NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

“How can I make amends for my sins?” Pope’s former butler asks

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN INSIDER
Nov. 29, 2012

“How can I make amends for my sins?” This was the question the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, addressed in recent days to a prelate who paid him a visit in prison. Gabriele confessed to photocopying confidential documents linked to the Vatileaks case from the papal secretariat and passing them onto Italian journalist and writer, Gianluigi Nuzzi. He was sent back to prison in the Vatican last 25 October, after being officially convicted of aggravated theft. The former butler’s three year sentence was reduced to one and a half years.

Readers will recall that two days after the grounds for the decision to convict Paolo Gabriele were published, the Secretariat of State issued a firm communiqué, approved by Benedict XVI, stating that no decision had been taken to grant the former butler a pardon. The communiqué also underlined his serious responsibility, following the sentence handed down by the Vatican court, which recognised that the former butler had to some extent acted in good faith. Gabriele had repeatedly stated that he had acted in the way he did “to help the Pope.”

The communiqué specified that the gravity of the butler’s offence risked being underestimated as “it was a personal offence committed against the Holy Father; the privacy rights of many people who had turned to him because of the position he held, were violated; the incident sparked prejudice against the Holy See and its institutions; it hindered communication between the world’s bishops and the Holy See and triggered a scandal among the Catholic community. Finally, the peace of the community of individuals working for in service of the Successor of Peter on a daily basis was disturbed for several months.”

Aside from stating that a decision to grant a papal pardon to Gabriele (which the Vatican’s spokesman had, nevertheless, hinted at on the final day of the trial) had not yet been taken, the communiqué issued by the Vatican Secretariat of State was intended as an internal warning to the Roman Curia. It also served as a warning to anyone who planned on following in Gabriele’s footsteps that they would not get away with it.

Both the Pope’s former butler and his lawyer Cristiana Arru were taken aback by the communiqué and the decision to re-incarcerate Gabriele. “But - a priest who met with “Paoletto” Gabriele told Vatican Insider – it was the very harshness of this text that made Gabriele understand the gravity of his offence. At the end of the trial he knew he had caused great suffering to the Pope but he was not aware quite yet of the full effect of his actions and how serious they were. Only when he returned to prison and read the words contained in the communiqué, did he fully understand the consequences of what he had done and asked how he could make amends. I answered that returning to prison was the way to do this. And I told him to entrust himself to the mercy of God, looking towards the future with faith, so that he could start over again.”

It appears as though Paolo Gabriele and his family are really being tried by this whole experience. His wife, Manuela Citti, is trying to protect the children by not taking them to see heir father in prison. Instead they meet him at Sunday mass, which “Paoletto” attends, accompanied by Vatican police.

Pope: "Religious ignorance" serious problem

Vatican Radio
Nov. 30, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday spoke to the third and final group of French bishops coming to Rome this year for their ad limina visits.

“One of the most serious problems of our time is the religious ignorance in which many men and women live, including those who are Catholic,” the Holy Father told the Bishops.

He said this ignorance is two-fold.

“It is an ignorance of the person of Jesus Christ; and an ignorance of the sublimity of his teachings, which have universal and permanent value in the search for the meaning of life and happiness,” said the Pope.

“This ignorance also produces new generations which are unable to understand their history, nor feel heir to this tradition, that has shaped life, society, art and European culture,” he continued.

The Pope went on to speak about the importance of Catholic education, and commended the bishops for their support of schools and institutes of all levels of society. He also encouraged the laity to study theology, calling it “a source of wisdom, joy and wonder that cannot be restricted to seminarians, priests and those in religious life.”

“Catholic schools, which have shaped the Christian life and culture of [France], now have a historic responsibility,” Pope Benedict sad. “Schools and other institutions of Catholic education undergirds many of the initiatives and movements of the New Evangelization.”

Really, really looking forward to this. Wonder who will play Papa.


Ratzinger’s life becomes a film

An international production on the life and works of the Pope has been announced in Munich. The film is due out in 2014 and will be based on the written biography by Peter Seewald

MAURO PIANTA
Vatican Insider
Nov. 30, 2012

Pope Ratzinger superstar! Benedict XVI will soon be appearing on the big screen: Odeon Film in Munich has announced an agreement between the producers of H & V Entertainment and Peter Weckert, for “an international production on the extraordinary life and works of Joseph Ratzinger, from his birth in 1927 to his Pontificate,” a statement reads.

In 2011 Weckert produced a documentary entitled “Francis and the Pope”, about a young choirboy who was chosen to perform a solo piece before the Holy Father. The team followed Benedict XVI on his trips to Africa and Israel to gather material for the production. The film on Benedict XVI will be based on Ratzinger’s biography which will be published by Peter Seewald in spring 2014.

Seewald - who is the author of “Light of the World”, a book-length interview with Benedict XVI, published in 2010 - will advise on the film script and screenplay.

Italian online magazine Tempi.it recalls that the late John Paul II starred in the television production Pope John Paul II, interpreted by Jon Voight, a two part television mini-series entitled Karol: A man who became Pope and Karol: The Pope, the Man directed by Giacomo Battiato.

Motu proprio: On the Service of Charity

Vatican Radio
Dec. 1, 2012

The service of charity, Pope Benedict said today, is at the heart of the Church’s identity and mission.

In a new Apostolic Letter – issued “motu proprio,” that is, on his own initiative – the Holy Father spoke about the work of charity in and by the Church, and issued new regulations to better organise the Church’s charitable activity. “With the present Motu proprio, I intend to provide an organic legislative framework for the better overall ordering of the various organised ecclesial forms of the service of charity, which are closely related to the diaconal [ministerial] nature of the Church and the Episcopal ministry.

The Church’s concern for those in need is expressed in many different charitable initiatives around the world. These works, the Pope said, should always be welcomed by the Church’s Pastors, “as a sign of the sharing of all the faithful in the mission of the Church.” The diversity of those initiatives is a “manifestation of the freedom of the baptised,” who use their own unique gifts to respond to call of charity.

But, he said, insofar as those charitable works are promoted and supported by the Church, they must conform to the teachings of the Church and the intentions of the faithful, and must respect legitimate civil regulation. It is the responsibility of the Bishops, in the first place, to ensure that they do so.

Above all, Pope Benedict said, it is important to remember that practical actions are never enough; charity must express a genuine love for people, a love animated by a personal encounter with Christ. “In carrying out their charitable works, therefore, the Catholic organisations should not limit themselves merely to collecting and distributing funds, but should show special concern for individuals in need and exercise a valuable educational function within the Christian community, helping people to appreciate the importance of sharing, respect and love in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ.”


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"On the Service of Charity": full text

Below please find the English translation of Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Letter “The Service of Charity.”


Apostolic Letter issued “Motu Proprio”

THE SERVICE OF CHARITY

Introduction

“The Church’s deepest nature is expressed in her three-fold responsibility: of proclaiming the word of God (kerygma-martyria), celebrating the sacraments (leitourgia) and exercising the ministry of charity (diakonia). These duties presuppose each other and are inseparable” (Deus Caritas Est, 25).

The service of charity is also a constitutive element of the Church’s mission and an indispensable expression of her very being (cf. ibid.); all the faithful have the right and duty to devote themselves personally to living the new commandment that Christ left us (cf. Jn 15:12), and to offering our contemporaries not only material assistance, but also refreshment and care for their souls (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 28). The Church is also called as a whole to the exercise of the diakonia of charity, whether in the small communities of particular Churches or on the level of the universal Church. This requires organization “if it is to be an ordered service to the community” (cf. ibid., 20), an organization which entails a variety of institutional expressions.

With regard to this diakonia of charity, in my Encyclical Deus Caritas Est I pointed out that “in conformity with the episcopal structure of the Church, the Bishops, as successors of the Apostles, are charged with primary responsibility for carrying out in the particular Churches” the service of charity (No. 32); at the same time, however, I noted that “the Code of Canon Law, in the canons on the ministry of the Bishop, does not expressly mention charity as a specific sector of episcopal activity” (ibid.). Although “the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops explored more specifically the duty of charity as a responsibility incumbent upon the whole Church and upon each Bishop in his Diocese” (ibid.), there was still a need to fill the aforementioned lacuna and to give adequate expression in canonical legislation to both the essential nature of the service of charity in the Church and its constitutive relationship with the episcopal ministry, while outlining the legal aspects of this ecclesial service, especially when carried out in an organized way and with the explicit support of the Bishops.

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In view of this, with the present Motu Proprio I intend to provide an organic legislative framework for the better overall ordering of the various organized ecclesial forms of the service of charity, which are closely related to the diaconal nature of the Church and the episcopal ministry.

It is important, however, to keep in mind that “practical activity will always be insufficient, unless it visibly expresses a love for man, a love nourished by an encounter with Christ” (ibid., 34). In carrying out their charitable activity, therefore, the various Catholic organizations should not limit themselves merely to collecting and distributing funds, but should show special concern for individuals in need and exercise a valuable educational function within the Christian community, helping people to appreciate the importance of sharing, respect and love in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ. The Church’s charitable activity at all levels must avoid the risk of becoming just another form of organized social assistance (cf. ibid., 31).

The organized charitable initiatives promoted by the faithful in various places differ widely one from the other, and call for appropriate management. In a particular way, the work of Caritas has expanded at the parish, diocesan, national and international levels. Caritas is an institution promoted by the ecclesiastical Hierarchy which has rightly earned the esteem and trust of the faithful and of many other people around the world for its generous and consistent witness of faith and its concrete ability to respond to the needs of the poor. In addition to this broad initiative, officially supported by the Church’s authority, many other initiatives have arisen in different places from the free enterprise of the faithful, who themselves wish to help in various ways to offer a concrete witness of charity towards those in need. While differing in their origin and juridical status, both are expressions of sensitivity and a desire to respond to the same pressing need.

The Church as an institution is not extraneous to those organized initiatives which represent a free expression of the concern of the baptized for individuals and peoples in need. The Church’s Pastors should always welcome these initiatives as a sign of the sharing of all the faithful in the mission of the Church; they should respect the specific characteristics and administrative autonomy which these initiatives enjoy, in accordance with their nature, as a manifestation of the freedom of the baptized.

Alongside these, the Church’s authority has, on its own initiative, promoted specific agencies which provide institutionally for allocating donations made by the faithful, following suitable legal and administrative methods which allow for a more effective response to concrete needs.

Nevertheless, to the extent that such activities are promoted by the Hierarchy itself, or are explicitly supported by the authority of the Church’s Pastors, there is a need to ensure that they are managed in conformity with the demands of the Church’s teaching and the intentions of the faithful, and that they likewise respect the legitimate norms laid down by civil authorities. In view of these requirements, it became necessary to establish in the Church’s law certain essential norms inspired by the general criteria of canonical discipline, which would make explicit in this sector of activity the legal responsibilities assumed by the various subjects involved, specifying in particular the position of authority and coordination belonging to the diocesan Bishop. At the same time, the norms in question need to be broad enough to embrace the significant diversity of the institutions of Catholic inspiration which are engaged as such in this sector, whether those originating from the Hierarchy or those born of the direct initiative of the faithful, received and encouraged by the local Pastors. While it was necessary to lay down norms in this regard, there

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was also a need to consider the requirements of justice and the responsibility of Bishops before the faithful, with respect for the legitimate autonomy of each institution.

Dispositive Part

Consequently, upon the proposal of the Cardinal President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, and after consultation with the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, I establish and decree the following:

Art. 1.
§ 1. The faithful have the right to join in associations and to establish agencies to carry out specific charitable services, especially on behalf of the poor and suffering. To the extent that these are linked to the charitable service of the Church’s Pastors and/or intend to use for this purpose contributions made by the faithful, they must submit their own Statutes for the approval of the competent ecclesiastical authority and comply with the following norms.

§ 2. Similarly, it is also the right of the faithful to establish foundations to fund concrete charitable initiatives, in accordance with the norms of canons 1303 of the Code of Canon Law (CIC) and 1047 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches (CCEO). If foundations of this type correspond to the characteristics set forth in § 1, they will also observe, congrua congruis referendo, the provisions of the present law.

§ 3. In addition to observing the canonical legislation, the collective charitable initiatives to which this Motu Proprio refers are required to follow Catholic principles in their activity and they may not accept commitments which could in any way affect the observance of those principles.

§ 4. Agencies and foundations for charitable purposes promoted by Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life are required to comply with these norms, and they must follow the prescriptions of canons 312 § 2 CIC and 575 § 2 CCEO.

Art. 2.
§ 1. The Statutes of each charitable agency referred to in the preceding article must also contain, in addition to its institutional offices and structures of governance in accordance with canon 95 § 1 CIC, the guiding principles and objectives of the initiative, the management of funds, the profile of its workers, as well as the reports and information which must be presented to the competent ecclesiastical authority.

§ 2. A charitable agency may use the name “Catholic” only with the written consent of the competent authority, as laid down by canon 300 CIC.

§ 3. Agencies promoted by the faithful for charitable purposes can have an Ecclesiastical Assistant appointed in accordance with the Statutes, according to the norm of canons 324 § 2 and 317 CIC.

§ 4. At the same time, the ecclesiastical authority must bear in mind its duty to regulate the exercise of the rights of the faithful in accordance with canons 223 § 2 CIC and 26 § 3 CCEO,

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and thus to avoid the proliferation of charitable initiatives to the detriment of their activity and effectiveness with regard to their stated goals.

Art. 3.
§ 1. With regard to the preceding articles, it is understood that the competent authority at the respective levels is that indicated by canons 312 CIC and 575 CCEO.

§ 2. For agencies not approved at the national level, even though they operate in different Dioceses, the competent authority is understood to be the diocesan Bishop of the place where the agency has its principal office. In any event, the agency has the duty to inform the Bishops of other Dioceses where it operates and to respect the guidelines for the activities of the various charitable agencies present in those Dioceses.

Art. 4.
§ 1. The diocesan Bishop (cf. canon 134 § 3 CIC and canon 987 CCEO) exercises his proper pastoral solicitude for the service of charity in the particular Church entrusted to him as its Pastor, guide and the one primarily responsible for that service.

§ 2. The diocesan Bishop encourages and supports the initiatives and works of service to neighbour in his particular Church, and encourages in the faithful the spirit of practical charity as an expression of the Christian life and sharing in the mission of the Church, as indicated in canons 215 and 222 CIC and 25 and 18 CCEO.

§ 3. It is the responsibility of the diocesan Bishop to ensure that in the activities and management of these agencies the norms of the Church’s universal and particular law are respected, as well as the intentions of the faithful who made donations or bequests for these specific purposes (cf. canons 1300 CIC and 1044 CCEO).

Art. 5. The diocesan Bishop is to ensure that the Church enjoys the right to carry out charitable activities, and he is to take care that the faithful and the institutions under his supervision comply with the legitimate civil legislation in this area.

Art. 6. It is the responsibility of the diocesan Bishop, as indicated by canons 394 § 1 CIC and 203 § 1 CCEO, to coordinate within his territory the different works of charitable service, both those promoted by the Hierarchy itself and those arising from initiatives of the faithful, without prejudice to their proper autonomy in accordance with their respective Statutes. In particular, he is to take care that their activities keep alive the spirit of the Gospel.

Art. 7.
§ 1. The agencies referred to in Article 1 § 1 are required to select their personnel from among persons who share, or at least respect, the Catholic identity of these works.

§ 2. To ensure an evangelical witness in the service of charity, the diocesan Bishop is to take care that those who work in the Church’s charitable apostolate, along with due professional

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competence, give an example of Christian life and witness to a formation of heart which testifies to a faith working through charity. To this end, he is also to provide for their theological and pastoral formation, through specific curricula agreed upon by the officers of various agencies and through suitable aids to the spiritual life.

Art. 8. Wherever necessary, due to the number and variety of initiatives, the diocesan Bishop is to establish in the Church entrusted to his care an Office to direct and coordinate the service of charity in his name.

Art. 9. § 1. The Bishop is to encourage in every parish of his territory the creation of a local Caritas service or a similar body, which will also promote in the whole community educational activities aimed at fostering a spirit of sharing and authentic charity. When appropriate, this service is to be established jointly by various parishes in the same territory.

§ 2. It is the responsibility of the Bishop and the respective parish priest to ensure that together with Caritas, other charitable initiatives can coexist and develop within the parish under the general coordination of the parish priest, taking into account, however, the prescriptions of Article 2 § 4 above.

§ 3. It is the duty of the diocesan Bishop and the respective parish priests to see that in this area the faithful are not led into error or misunderstanding; hence they are to prevent publicity being given through parish or diocesan structures to initiatives which, while presenting themselves as charitable, propose choices or methods at odds with the Church’s teaching.

Art. 10.
§ 1. It is the responsibility of the Bishop to supervise the ecclesiastical goods of the charitable agencies subject to his authority.

§ 2. It is the duty of the diocesan Bishop to ensure that the proceeds of collections made in accordance with canons 1265 and 1266 CIC and canons 1014 and 1015 CCEO are used for their stated purposes [cf. canons 1267 CIC, 1016 CCEO].

§ 3. In particular, the diocesan Bishop is to ensure that charitable agencies dependent upon him do not receive financial support from groups or institutions that pursue ends contrary to Church’s teaching. Similarly, lest scandal be given to the faithful, the diocesan Bishop is to ensure that these charitable agencies do not accept contributions for initiatives whose ends, or the means used to pursue them, are not in conformity with the Church’s teaching.

§ 4. In a particular way, the Bishop is to see that the management of initiatives dependent on him offers a testimony of Christian simplicity of life. To this end, he will ensure that salaries and operational expenses, while respecting the demands of justice and a necessary level of professionalism, are in due proportion to analogous expenses of his diocesan Curia.

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§ 5. To permit the ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Article 3 § 1 to exercise its duty of supervision, the agencies mentioned in Article 1 § 1, are required to submit to the competent Ordinary an annual financial report in a way which he himself will indicate.

Art. 11. The diocesan Bishop is obliged, if necessary, to make known to the faithful the fact that the activity of a particular charitable agency is no longer being carried out in conformity with the Church’s teaching, and then to prohibit that agency from using the name “Catholic” and to take the necessary measures should personal responsibilities emerge.

Art. 12.
§ 1. The diocesan Bishop is to encourage the national and international activity of the charitable agencies under his care, especially cooperation with poorer ecclesiastical circumscriptions by analogy with the prescriptions of canons 1274 § 3 CIC and 1021 § 3 CCEO.

§ 2. Pastoral concern for charitable works, depending on circumstances of time and place, can be carried out jointly by various neighbouring Bishops with regard to a number of Churches, in accordance with the norm of law. When such joint activity is international in character, the competent Dicastery of the Holy See is to be consulted in advance. For charitable initiatives on the national level, it is fitting that the Bishop consult the respective office of the Bishops’ Conference.

Art. 13. The local ecclesiastical authority retains the full right to give permission for initiatives undertaken by Catholic agencies in areas of his jurisdiction, with due respect for canonical norms and the specific identity of the individual agencies. It is also the duty of the Bishop to ensure that the activities carried out in his Diocese are conducted in conformity with ecclesiastical discipline, either prohibiting them or adopting any measures needed in cases where that discipline is not respected.

Art. 14. Where appropriate, the Bishop is to promote charitable initiatives in cooperation with other Churches or Ecclesial Communities, respecting the proper identity of each.

Art. 15.
§ 1. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum has the task of promoting the application of this legislation and ensuring that it is applied at all levels, without prejudice to the competence of the Pontifical Council for the Laity with regard to associations of the faithful as provided for in Article 133 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, the competence of the Secretariat of State’s Section for Relations with States, and the general competences of other Dicasteries and Institutes of the Roman Curia. In particular, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum is to take care that the charitable service of Catholic institutions at the international level is always to be carried out in communion with the various local Churches.

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§ 2. The Pontifical Council Cor Unum is also competent for the canonical establishment of charitable agencies at the international level; it thus takes on the responsibilities of discipline and promotion entailed by law.

I order that everything I have laid down in this Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio be fully observed, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, even if worthy of particular mention, and I decree that it be promulgated by publication in the daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and enter into force on 10 December 2012.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 11 November, in the year 2012, the eighth of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Vatileaks case: Sciarpelletti drops his appeal

Still no decision on whether the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, will be granted a pardon

ALESSANDRO SPECIALE
VATICAN INSIDER
Dec. 1, 2012

The Vatican computer expert who was convicted for aiding and abetting the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, has dropped his appeal. The decision was announced today by Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi, during his explanation of the tribunal’s guilty verdict handed down last 10 November. The decision puts a full stop – for now at least – in the embarrassing Vatican document leak saga.

Gianluca Benedetti, Sciarpelletti’s lawyer, initially announced he would be appealing his sentence despite it being very soft. The Secretariat of State’s computer technician got four months in prison, reduced to two with a “suspension of the sentence for a period of five years, according to the conditions of law." But something must have changed over the past weeks because on 27 November Sciarpelletti dropped the appeal.

This brings the Vatileaks trial to a close. This trial resulted in Paolo Gabriele serving an 18-month sentence in a Vatican jail, awaiting a potential papal pardon. Gabriele decided not to appeal his sentence and from a legal point of view, the Vatican inquiry into the document theft is considered closed. “The trial of the two accused parties can be considered over” Lombardi said in a statement today. The path towards a papal pardon for Gabriele therefore looks a bit smoother.

The other part of the inquiry - headed by Promoter of Justice, Nicola Picardi - into the distribution of documents which Gabriele stole and photocopied, remains open. As does the investigation into the alleged abuse experienced by the Pope’s former butler during his confinement in a Vatican prison cell while the trial was underway. Naturally, the content of the report prepared by the Commission of Cardinals appointed by Benedict XVI remains confidential and it is not known which of its recommendations were implemented.

Surprisingly, Vatican Radio didn't provide a translation of the Pope's sermon last night.


Pope presides over vespers to mark beginning of Advent

Vatican Radio
Dec. 2, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI presided over Vespers in Saint Peter’s Basilica this evening, marking the vigil to the first day of Advent. During this evening’s celebrations the Pope met with students from Roman and Pontifical universities. Speaking to the students, the Holy Father encouraged them to witness the closeness of God in their university halls. A god who manifests himself in the search for truth, he said, is key to all intellectual endeavour. Fr Bernard Bitekerezo of Uganda and student of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce here in Rome spoke with Vatican Radio’s Alberto Goroni about meeting with the Holy Father.

“It is very important to meet the Pope,” he said. “We are all very happy to be with him, to pray with him, to get those blessings.”

“Especially in Africa, we have got a lot of problems – wars, diseases – and the Pope has really been giving us advice, information, and support, especially as regards our Catholic faith,” Fr Bitekerezo said.

Pope Angelus: Advent, a time of vigilant and active hope

Vatican Radio
Dec. 2, 2012

In his weekly Angelus address, Pope Benedict noted that the first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a new liturgical year.

Advent, a word that means “coming” or “presence”, refers both to the first coming of Christ in the Incarnation, and to the second coming, when Jesus will return in glory. “This saving plan of God” the Pope said, “requires the continual free adherence and collaboration of man.” The Church, he continued, “lives by resting upon the memory of the Lord and awaiting His return – a wait that consists in a vigilant and active hope.”

Sunday’s readings, Pope Benedict said, show us what we must do to be ready when the Lord comes. The Gospel reminds us that we must live simply and moderately, and pray constantly. Saint Paul urges us to continually grow in love for one another. And the reading from the prophet Jeremiah reminds us that the Church, the community of believers, “is a sign of the love of God, of His justice that is already present in history, but not yet fully realised, and that therefore should always be awaited, invoked, and sought after with patience and courage.”

In his remarks to English speaking pilgrims and visitors after the Angelus, the Holy Father made special mention of Devasahayam Pillai, a convert from Hinduism who was martyred in India in 1752. Blessed Devasahayam was beatified today in the diocese of Kottar. “His witness to Christ,” the Pope said, “is an example of that attentiveness to the coming of Christ recalled by this first Sunday of Advent. May this holy season help us to centre our lives once more on Christ, our hope.”

Below, please find the full text of the Pope’s remarks at Sunday’s Angelus.

Today the Church begins a new liturgical year, a path that is further enriched by the Year of Faith, 50 years since the opening of the Second Vatican Council. The first Time of this journey is Advent, composed, in the Roman Rite, of the four weeks that precede the Birth of the Lord, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation. The word “Advent” means “coming” or “presence.” In the ancient world, it signified the coming of the king or the emperor into one of the provinces; in the language of Christians, it referred to the coming of God, to His presence in the world; a mystery that involves the whole of the cosmos and of history, but that recognises two culminating moments: the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ. The first is the Incarnation itself; the second is the glorious return at the end of time. These two moments, chronologically distant – and it is not given to us to know how far apart they are – touch us deeply, because by His death and resurrection Jesus has already accomplished that transformation of humanity and of the cosmos that is the final goal of creation. But before that end, it is necessary that all His enemies should be put under His feet (cfr. 1 Cor 15,25; Ps 110,1). This saving plan of God, which is always taking place, continually requires the free adherence and collaboration of man; and the Church, which is like the Betrothed, the promised bride of the crucified and risen Lamb of God (cfr. Rev 21,9), lives by leaning upon the memory of her Lord and awaiting His return: a wait consisting in a vigilant and active hope.

It is to this that the Word of God recalls us today, tracing out a line of conduct to pursue in order to be ready for the coming of the Lord. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says to the disciples: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life . . . Be vigilant at all times and pray.” So: simplicity and prayer. And the apostle Paul adds the invitation to “increase and abound in love” among ourselves and towards everyone, to strengthen our hearts and to be blameless in holiness (cfr. 1 Thess 3, 12-13). In the midst of the turmoil of the world, or the desert of indifference and materialism, Christians accept the salvation of God and witness to it by a different way of life, as a city set on a hill. “In those days,” the prophet Jeremiah proclaims, “Jerusalem shall dwell safely; this is the name they shall call her: ‘The Lord our justice’” (Jer 33,16). The community of believers is a sign of the love of God, of His justice that is already present in history, but not yet fully realised, and that therefore should always be awaited, invoked, and sought after with patience and courage.

The Virgin Mary perfectly embodies the spirit of Advent, which consists of listening to God, a profound desire to do His will, and joyful service to others. Let us be guided by her, so that God who is coming may not find us closed or distracted, but might extend to each of us a small part of His kingdom of love, of justice, and of peace.

Pope: love basis of social evangelization, new humanism

Vatican Radio
Dec. 3, 2012

Though great progress in the defence of human rights has been made in our time, the human person tends to be devalued in today’s culture characterized by utilitarian individualism and technocratic economic policies. That’s what Pope Benedict XVI said in remarks in the Vatican Monday to members of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on occasion of their Plenary Assembly.

Though humanity is emerged in an “infinite network of relationships and communications,” the Pope said, man today paradoxically “often seems an isolated being” because his rapport with God, the root of all other relationships, is regarded with indifference.

Today’s man, the Pope continued, is considered primarily in “biological terms” or as “human capital” or as a “resource” in the overall productive and financial workings of society.

New ideologies such as “hedonistic and selfish sexual and reproductive rights” or uncurbed financial capitalism that abuses political power and removes structures from the “real economy” lead to a consideration of the employee and his work as “minor goods” - thus undermining the natural bases of society, especially the family, said the Pope.

“In reality,” Pope Benedict pointed out, “the human being… enjoys a true supremacy” which endows him with responsibility both for himself and creation. For Christianity, work is a fundamental good for man, for his “personalization, socialization, formation of the family and with regard to the common good and peace.”

Pope Benedict stressed that a “new social evangelization” can lead to a “new humanism and renewed cultural commitment”. Solidarity, charity and love offer the best response to individualism, materialism and technocracy.

The secret of any “fully human and peaceful social life” as well as “political renewal” in national and world institutions, the Pope said, should be based on the Lord’s commandment to love one another as He has loved us.

Citing Pope John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris which offers love as the primary motivator behind the creation of a “world community” and authority , Pope Benedict said the Church’s task is to offer “principles for reflection, criteria of judgement and practical orientation ” guaranteeing an anthropological and ethical framework for the common good.

This reflection, the Pope said, should not contemplate the creation of a superpower to dominate people and take advantage of the weakest, concentrating power in the hands of a few. Rather, this authority must be understood as a moral force empowered by reason and limited in its actions and rights.

The Pope thanked the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace for its commitment to studying his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, and asked them to reflect further on the reform of the international financial and monetary system during their Plenary Assembly.


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MAN IS CONSIDERED IN BIOLOGICAL TERMS OR AS "HUMAN CAPITAL"

Vatican City, 3 December 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today gave an address to the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace.

"Man is nowadays considered in predominantly biological terms or as 'human capital', a 'resource', part of a dominant productive or financial mechanism. Although we continue to proclaim the dignity of the person, new ideologies - the hedonistic and egotistic claim to sexual and reproductive rights, or unregulated financial capitalism that abuses politics and derails the true economy - contribute to a concept of the worker and his or her labour as 'minor' commodities and undermine the natural foundations of society, especially the family. In fact, the human being, .... transcendent by comparison to other beings or earthly goods, enjoys true supremacy and responsibility for himself and for creation. ... For Christianity, work is fundamental for man, for his identity, socialisation, the creation of a family and his contribution to peace and the common good. For precisely this reason, the aim of access to work for all is always a priority, even in periods of economic recession.

"From new evangelisation of the social sphere, we can derive a new humanism and renewed cultural and prospective commitment", the Pope continued. The new evangelisation "helps to dethrone modern idols, replacing individualism, materialistic consumerism and technocracy with a culture of fraternity and gratuity, and with mutual love. Jesus Christ summarised these precepts and gave them the form of a new commandment - 'Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another' - and here lies the secret of every fully human and pacific social life, as well as the renewal of politics and of national and global institutions. Blessed John XXIII motivated efforts to build a world community, with a corresponding authority precisely on love for the common good of the human family".

"The Church certainly does not have the task of suggesting, from a judicial or political point of view, the precise configuration of an international system of this type, but rather offers a set of principles for reflection, criteria for judgement and practical guidelines able to guarantee an anthropological and ethical structure for the common good. However, it is important to note that one should not envisage a superpower, concentrated in the hands of the few, dominating all peoples and exploiting the weakest among them, but rather that such an authority should be understood primarily as a moral force, a power to influence according to reason, or rather as a participatory authority, limited in competence and by law", concluded the Holy Father.


THE POPE ADDRESSES THE VENERABLE ENGLISH COLLEGE OF ROME

Vatican City, 3 December 2012 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI addressed members of the Venerable English College of Rome, the Catholic seminary for the formation of priests from England and Wales. The College, which celebrates its 650th anniversary this year, has its origins in an ancient English hospice which accommodated British pilgrims to Rome.

The Holy Father, following his greeting to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, a former rector of the College, emphasised the "long tradition of zeal for the faith and loyalty to the Apostolic See" in the Catholic community in England and Wales. He remarked that it was his predecessor, Pope Gregory the Great, who sent St. Augustine of Canterbury to "plant the seeds of Christian faith on Anglo-Saxon soil. The fruits of that missionary endeavour are only too evident in the six-hundred-and-fifty-year history of faith and martyrdom that distinguishes the English Hospice of Saint Thomas à Becket and the Venerable English College that grew out of it".

Addressing the seminarians, he continued, "you too ... are the men God has chosen to spread the message of the Gospel today, in England and Wales, in Canada, in Scandinavia ... Your first task, then, is to come to know Christ yourselves, and the time you spend in seminary provides you with a privileged opportunity to do so. Learn to pray daily, especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, listening attentively to the word of God and allowing heart to speak to heart, as Blessed John Henry Newman would say. ... Allow the fascination of His person to capture your imagination and warm your heart. He has chosen you to be His friends, not His servants, and He invites you to share in His priestly work of bringing about the salvation of the world".

"You have heard much talk about the new evangelization, the proclamation of Christ in those parts of the world where the Gospel has already been preached, but where to a greater or lesser degree the embers of faith have grown cold and now need to be fanned once more into a flame. ... Fire in sacred Scripture frequently serves to indicate the divine presence. ... Just as a small fire can set a whole forest ablaze, so the faithful testimony of a few can release the purifying and transforming power of God’s love so that it spreads like wildfire throughout a community or a nation".

Benedict XVI concluded by mentioning his visit to the United Kingdom in 2010. He said, "I saw for myself that there is a great spiritual hunger among the people. Bring them the true nourishment that comes from knowing, loving and serving Christ. Speak the truth of the Gospel to them with love. Offer them the living water of the Christian faith and point them towards the bread of life, so that their hunger and thirst may be satisfied. Above all, however, let the light of Christ shine through you by living lives of holiness, following in the footsteps of the many great saints of England and Wales, the holy men and women who bore witness to God’s love, even at the cost of their lives".

Audience: Advent and God’s benevolent plan

Vatican Radio
Dec. 5, 2012

Marking the first week of Advent and the beginning of the new liturgical year, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience catechesis to living the season as an act of faith in God’s benevolent plan for humanity.


Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the beginning of his letter to the Christians of Ephesus (cf. 1, 3-14), the apostle Paul raises a prayer of blessing God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – a prayer that we have just heard - that introduces us to live the season of Advent, in the context of the faith. The theme of this hymn of praise is God's plan for man, defined in terms full of joy, wonder and gratitude, as a "benevolent plan" (see 9), mercy and love.

Why does the Apostle raise this blessing God, from the depths of his heart? Because he looks at his work in the history of salvation, culminating in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus, and he contemplates how Heavenly Father has chosen us even before the creation of the world, to be his sons in his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:14 s.; Gal 4:4 f.). Therefore we exist from eternity in God, in a major project that God has kept within himself and decided to implement and to reveal in "the fullness of time" (cf. Eph 1:10). St. Paul helps us to understand, then, how all creation and, in particular, man and woman are not the result of chance, but a loving plan to respond to the eternal reason of God with the creative and redemptive power of his Word which creates the world. This first statement reminds us that our vocation is not simply to exist in the world, being inserted in history, or even just being a creature of God, it is something greater: it is being chosen by God, even before the creation of the world, in the Son, Jesus Christ. In Him we exist, so to speak, already. God contemplates us in Christ, as adopted children. The "benevolent plan" of God, which is qualified by the Apostle as a "loving plan" (Eph 1:5), is called "the mystery" of Divine will (v. 9), hidden and now revealed in the Person and work of Christ. The divine initiative precedes any human response: it is a free gift of His love that surrounds us and transforms us.

But what is the ultimate goal of this mysterious plan? What is the centre of God's will? It is - Saint Paul tells us - to "bring all things back to Christ, the only head" (v. 10). In this expression we find one of the central formulations of the New Testament that make us understand the plan of God, his plan of love for humanity, a formulation in the second century, St. Irenaeus of Lyons placed at the core of his Christology : "to restore " all reality in Christ. Perhaps some of you remember the formula used by Pope St. Pius X for the consecration of the world to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "Instaurare omnia in Christo", a formula that refers to this Pauline expression, and that was also the motto of this holy Pontiff . The Apostle, however, speaks more specifically of restoring the universe in Christ, and this means that in the great design of creation and history, Christ stands as the center of the entire journey of the world, the central pillar, that attracts the whole of reality to itself, to overcome dispersion and limitation and lead everything to the fullness desired by God (cf. Eph 1:23).

This "benevolent plan" has not been kept, so to speak, in the silence of God in the height of his heaven, but He has made it known by engaging with the man, to whom He has not only revealed something, but His very self. He has not simply communicated a set of truths, but He communicated Himself to us, to the point of becoming one of us, to being incarnate. The Second Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum affirms: " In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature "(n. 2). God not only says something, He communicates with us, draws us into the divine nature, so that we are involved in the divine nature, deified. God reveals His great plan of love engaging with man approaching him to the point of becoming himself is a man. The Council continues: "The invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself "(ibid.). By his intelligence and abilities alone man could not have reached this illuminating revelation of God’s love, it is God who has opened up His heaven and lowered himself to lead man into the abyss of his love.

As St. Paul writes to the Christians of Corinth: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him," this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God"(2:9-10). And St. John Chrysostom, in a famous comment on the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians, invites us to enjoy all the beauty of this "benevolent plan" of God revealed in Christ, and St. John Chrysostom says: " What are you lacking? You have become immortal, you have become free, you have become a child, you have become righteous, you are a brother, you have become a joint heir, to reign with Christ, with Christ you are glorified. Everything is given to us, and - as it is written - "how will he not also give us everything else along with him?" (Rom 8:32). Your firstfruits (cf. 1 Cor 15,20.23) is adored by angels [...]: what do you miss? "(PG 62.11).

This communion in Christ through the Holy Spirit, offered by God to all men with the light of Revelation, is not something that overlaps with our humanity, but it is the fulfilment of the deepest human longings, of the desire for infinity and fullness that dwells in the depths of the human being, and opens it up not to a temporary and limited happiness, but eternal. St. Bonaventure, referring to God who reveals Himself and speaks to us through Scripture to lead us to Him, says this: "Sacred Scripture is [...] the book in which the words of eternal life are written so that not only we believe, but may also possess eternal life, in which we shall see, we shall love and all our wishes shall be realized "(Breviloquium, Ext., Opera Omnia V, 201S.). And finally, Blessed Pope John Paul II recalled also that - and I quote - " Revelation has set within history a point of reference which cannot be ignored if the mystery of human life is to be known. Yet this knowledge refers back constantly to the mystery of God which the human mind cannot exhaust but can only receive and embrace in faith "(Encyclical Fides et Ratio, 14).


In this perspective, what is then, the act of faith? It is man's response to God's Revelation, which is made known, which shows His loving plan for humanity, and is, to use an expression of St. Augustine, allowing ourselves be grasped by the truth that is God, a truth that is love . This is why St. Paul emphasizes that we owe God, who has revealed His mystery, "obedience of faith" (Rom 16:26; see 1.5, 2 Cor 10: 5-6), the attitude with which man commits his whole self freely to God, offering the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals, and freely assenting to the truth revealed by Him” (Dei Verbum, 5). Obedience is not an act of coercion, it letting go, surrendering to the ocean of God's goodness All this leads to a fundamental change in the way we deal with the whole of reality, everything appears in a new light, it is therefore a true "conversion," faith is a "change of mentality" because the God who has revealed Himself in Christ, and has made known His plan, seizes us, draws us to Himself, becomes the meaning that supports life, the rock on which it can find stability. In the Old Testament we find an intense expression on faith, which God entrusts the prophet Isaiah to communicate to the king of Judah, Ahaz. God says: "Unless your faith is firm you shall not be firm" (Is 7.9 b). There is therefore a link between being and understanding that expresses how faith is a welcoming into our lives God’s vision of reality, letting God guide us through His Word and Sacraments to understand what we must do, the path we must take, how to live. At the same time, however, it is precisely understanding according to God, seeing with His eyes that makes our lives more solid, which allows us to "stand", not to fall.

Dear friends, Advent, the liturgical season that we have just begun and that prepares us for Christmas, places us before a the luminous mystery of the coming of the Son of God, the great "Benevolent Plan" with which he wants to draw us to Himself, to help us live in full communion of joy and peace with Him Advent invites us once again, in the midst of many difficulties, to renew our awareness that God is present: He came into the world, becoming a man like us , to bring His plan of love to fullness. And God demands that we become a sign of his action in the world. Through our faith, our hope, our love, He wants to enter the world again and again He wants to shine His light in our night. Thank you.


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Pope: Appeal for the Democratic Republic of Congo

The humanitarian crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was top of Pope Benedict XVI’s concerns this Wednesday as he began his greetings in Italian with another appeal for aid for the people of the nation, the scene of armed clashes and violence.

“A large part of the population lacks the primary means of subsistence” said the Pope, adding that “thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere”.

Pope Benedict renewed his call for dialogue and reconciliation and he asked the international community to work to “provide for the needs of the population”.

The 23 March (M23) rebel movement pulled its fighters out of the North Kivu provincial capital Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Saturday after seizing it from fleeing U.N.-backed government forces and holding it for 11 days.

Goma lies at the heart of Congo's eastern borderlands which have suffered nearly two decades of conflict stoked by long-standing ethnic and political enmities and fighting over the region's rich resources of gold, tin, tungsten and coltan - a precious metal used to make mobile phones.

Successive attacks by rebels, militias and government soldiers have made the region notorious for mass killings,recruitment of child soldiers and rape used as a weapon of war.

The U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA says at least 130,000 people have been displaced and are now in sites and camps in and around Goma. U.N. officials said a camp about 15 km outside Goma had been raided by unidentified gunmen late on Friday. Several women were raped and food and supplies stolen. In addition, there are an estimated 841,000 people who were already displaced before this latest wave of insecurity.

The M23 is composed of Tutsi former rebels that had been integrated into Congo's army under a previous peace deal mutinied in April. In a development likely to stoke diplomatic tensions, a group of experts tasked by the U.N. Security Council has presented new evidence alleging M23 received "direct support" from the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) to capture Goma. Rwanda has strongly and repeatedly rejected previous allegations made by the same U.N. experts that the Rwandan government has created, equipped, trained and directly commanded the M23 rebellion in Congo's North Kivu. Similar accusations against Uganda's government have also been denied by Kampala.

NATIVITY SCENE FROM BASILICATA IN ST. PETER'S SQUARE

Vatican City, 5 December 2012 (VIS) - The traditional nativity scene mounted every Christmas in St. Peter's Square will this year be offered to the Holy Father by the Italian region of Basilicata.

The nativity scene, which includes one hundred terracotta figures, is the work of Francesco Artese, one of the most famous exponents of the southern school of traditional nativity sculpture. The most striking characteristic of Artese's work is his recreation of landscapes of the Stones of Matera and his reproduction of scenes of rural life. Indeed, the nativity of St. Peter's Square is reminiscent of locations in the Holy Land.

According to an informative note published today, "The Lucanian landscape has been enriched by the work of religious people who have chosen to live there, transforming these places into a human settlement rich in holiness, building 154 rupestrian churches, monasteries and sanctuaries which, from the high Middle Ages until the nineteenth century, have shaped the identity of a vast area which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"The scenery of the nativity, therefore, while inspired by a traditional iconographic genre, is rendered unique by elements reproducing locations and architecture typical of the Lucanian landscape. The rupestrian churches of San Nicola dei Greci and Convicinio di Sant'Antonio are recognisable, and above, the bell tower of San Pietro Barisano stands tall amid the myriad rooftops. The human environment is that of ancient Lucanian rural civilisation ... and the statuettes, made entirely of terracotta, are dressed in clothing made of starched cloth and based on the typical Lucanian peasant costumes of the past. Artese has chosen to dress the Holy Family with costumes in the classic tradition".

"As in previous years, the installation of the nativity scene is entrusted to the Technical Services of the Governorate of Vatican City State".

THE HOLY SEE AND GERMANY REFLECT UPON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, who subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., accompanied by Msgr. Ettore Balastrero, under secretary for Relations with States.

The discussions highlighted the cordial nature of bilateral relations; attention was given to the Christian view of the person, as well as to the challenges currently posed by globalisation and the secularisation of society.

This was followed by a fruitful exchange of opinions on the international situation and the current economic crisis, especially in relation to its consequences in Europe, and the contribution that the Catholic Church may offer.

Pope: Address to International Theological Commission

Vatican Radio
Dec. 7, 2012

“Without openness to the transcendent, which allows us to find answers to questions on the meaning of life and how to live a moral life, mankind becomes unable to act in accordance with justice and work for peace”. This was Pope Benedict XVI’s message to the International Theological Commission at the conclusion of their Plenary Assembly here at the Vatican.


Below please find a Vatican Radio Translation of the Holy Father’s address


Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Distinguished Professors and Dear Collaborators,

With great joy I welcome you at the end of your annual Plenary Session. I cordially greet your new President, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, whom I thank for the words addressed to me on behalf of everyone, as well as the new Secretary General, Father Serge-Thomas Bonino.

Your Plenary Session was held in the context of the Year of Faith, and I am pleased that the International Theological Commission wanted to show its support for this ecclesial event through a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Santa Mary Major, to entrust to the Virgin Mary, Praesidium fidei, your Commission’s work and to pray for all those who, in medio Ecclesiae, are dedicated to bringing to fruition knowledge of the faith for the spiritual benefit and enjoyment of all believers. I express my appreciation for the message that you have prepared for this Year of Faith. It illustrates very well the specific way in which theologians, faithfully serving the truth of faith, can participate in the missionary efforts of the Church.

This message takes up the themes that you have more fully developed in the document "Theology today. Perspectives, principles and criteria", published earlier this year. Taking note of the vitality and diversity of theology after Vatican II, this document aims to present, so to speak, the genetic code of Catholic theology, that is, the principles that define its identity and, therefore, guarantee its unity in the diversity of its achievements. To do this, the text clarifies the criteria for a truly Catholic theology and therefore one able to contribute to the Church's mission to proclaim the Gospel to all men. In a cultural context where some are tempted or deprive theology of its academic status, because of its intrinsic link with the faith, or the confessional and faith dimension of theology, with the risk of confusing it with the religious sciences, your document rightly reminds us that theology is inextricably confessional and rational and that its presence within the academic institution provides a wide-ranging and full vision of human reason.

Among the criteria of Catholic theology, the document mentions the attention that theologians must pay to sensus fidelium. It is very useful that your Commission has also focused on this issue which is of particular importance for the reflection on the faith and life of the Church. The Second Vatican Council, while confirming the specific and irreplaceable role of Magisterium, stressed, however, that the whole People of God participates in Christ's prophetic office, thus fulfilling the inspired desire expressed by Moses, " If only all the people of the LORD were prophets! If only the LORD would bestow his spirit on them! "(Num 11:29). The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium thus teaches us on the subject: “The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One,(111) cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole peoples' supernatural discernment in matters of faith when "from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful" they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. "(n. 12). This gift, the sensus fidei, constitutes in the believer a kind of supernatural instinct that has a connatural life with the same object of faith. It is a criterion for discerning whether or not a truth belongs to the deposit of the living apostolic tradition. It also has a propositional value because the Holy Spirit does not cease to speak to the Churches and lead them to the whole truth. Today, however, it is particularly important to clarify the criteria used to distinguish the authentic sensus fidelium from its counterfeits. In fact, it is not some kind of public opinion of the Church, and it is unthinkable to mention it in order to challenge the teachings of the Magisterium, this because the sensus fidei can not grow authentically in the believer except to the extent in which he or she fully participates in the life of the Church, and this requires a responsible adherence to her Magisterium.

Today, this same supernatural sense of the faith of believers leads to strong reactions against the notion that religions, especially the monotheistic religions, would inherently be bearers of violence, mainly because of the claim that they advance the existence of a universal truth. Some believe that only the "polytheism of values" can guarantee tolerance and civil peace and conform to the spirit of a pluralistic democratic society. In this direction, your study on "the Triune God, unity of mankind. Christianity and monotheism" is of vibrant relevance. On the one hand, it is essential to remember that the faith in one God, Creator of heaven and earth, meets the rational needs of metaphysical reflection, which is not weakened but strengthened and deepened by the revelation of the mystery of the Triune God. On the other hand, the form that the final revelation of the mystery of God takes in the life and death of Jesus Christ, who goes towards the Cross as "a lamb led to the slaughter" (Is 53:7), needs to be underlined. The Lord attests to a radical rejection of all forms of hatred and violence in favor of the absolute primacy of agape. If, therefore, in history there have been or are forms of violence carried out in the name of God, these are not to be attributed to monotheism, but historical causes, mainly the result of human errors. Rather it is the forgetfulness of God that immerses human societies in a form of relativism, which inevitably generates violence. When you deny the opportunity for people to refer to an objective truth, dialogue is rendered impossible and violence, whether declared or hidden, becomes the rule of law of human relationships. Without openness to the transcendent, which allows us to find answers to questions on the meaning of life and how to live a moral life, mankind becomes unable to act in accordance with justice and work for peace.

If the failure of the relationship between mankind and God brings with it a deep imbalance in the relationship between men themselves, reconciliation with God, brought about by the Cross of Christ "our peace" (Eph 2:14) is the fundamental source unity and fraternity. Your reflection on the third theme that of the Social Doctrine of the Church throughout the Doctrine of the Faith is also placed in this perspective. It confirms that the social doctrine is not an extrinsic addition, but, without neglecting the contribution of a sound social philosophy, draws its underlying principles from the very sources of the faith. This doctrine seeks to make effective, in the great diversity of social situations, the new commandment that the Lord Jesus left us: "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34).

We pray to the Immaculate Virgin, model of those who listen and meditate on the Word of God, to obtain for you the grace to always joyfully serve the knowledge of faith for the benefit of the whole Church. Renewing my profound gratitude for your service to the Church, I assure you of my constant closeness in prayer and cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing on all of you.

This has been rumored ever since the previous prefect, James Harvey, was sort of kicked upstairs and named a cardinal last month. It appears from the second article that G.G. will also continue in his role as secretary to the Pope.


Gänswein named Prefect of Pontifical Household

Vatican Radio
Dec. 7, 2012

The Holy Father on Friday named Monsignor Georg Gänswein as Prefect of the Pontifical Household, at the same time elevating him to the titular see of Urbisaglia with the title of Archbishop.

Msgr Gänswein was born in 1956 in Waldshut, Germany. In 1984 he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau. Msgr Gänswein holds a degree in Canon Law from the Catholic Theology Faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich.

After serving as a judge on the Diocesan Tribunal and a personal collaborator of the Archbishop of Freiburg, in 1995 he took up a position with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. One year later, he was transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he later became personal Secretary of the Prefect – at the time, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Since the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, Msgr Gänswein has continued to serve as his personal Secretary.


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Pope appoints Gäenswein Prefect of Pontifical Household and archbishop

The Pope has nominated Georg Gänswein as new Prefect of the Papal Household, replacing Cardinal Harvey

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN INSIDER
Dec. 7, 2012

Georg Gänswein, Benedict XVI’s 56 year old personal secretary who began his role in the papal apartment in 2005 and had previously worked with Ratzinger in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has today been appointed new Prefect of the Papal Household. Gänswein has been raised to the dignity of Archbishop but will carry on living with Ratzinger and coordinating the papal secretariat.

The appointment, which has been in the air for weeks, is unprecedented in the recent history of the papacy: although it is true that John Paul II had nominated his secretary as bishop, Fr. Stanislao Dziwisz had been appointed “adjunct prefect” alongside the American James Harvey. In Gänswein’s case however, he is being given complete control of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, which manages people’s access to papal audiences. At the beginning of Benedict XVI’s Pontificate very few would have expected Benedict XVI to make such a choice given the criticisms against his predecessor. But today’s appointment should be seen in the context of the Vatileaks scandal - the theft and publication of confidential documents from the Pope’s desk. By appointing his secretary an archbishop and giving him a tough task within the Curia’s organisational chart, the Pope has created a protective shield around his collaborator for the future. He has also strengthened him significantly by making him the main interface in Pope-Curia relations and with the outside world.

Gänswein was born in Waldshut, in the Black Forest, on 30 July 1956 and is the eldest of five siblings, two brothers and two sisters. He entered the seminary and was ordained a Priest of the diocese of Freiburg im Breisgau on 31 May 1984. He graduated with a degree in Canon Law in 1993 from the Faculty of Theology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. After working as a judge in the Diocesan Court, in 1995 he joined the Congregation for Divine Worship. He was transferred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1996, where he served as personal secretary to the then Prefect Joseph Ratzinger. He replaced Josef Clemens with whom relations had been very tense.

Passionate about sport, skiing and tennis, Gänswein even has a fan club dedicated to him. When recently presented with an award in the Vatican, Fr. Georg explained his role as such: ““Personally I see my role and service to the Pope as a pane of glass. A pane of glass is a pane of glass when it is clean. The cleaner it is the more it fulfils its purpose. If it gets dirty or breaks, it is still a pane of glass but it does not fulfil its purpose.” “I need to let the sunlight in and the less the glass is visible the better, if it cannot be seen at all it means it is fulfilling its task,” Fr. Georg added. “The less I am deliberately on show the better, “with my heart, my mind, my soul and all the strength I possess.” “Hostilities do exist and if they affect the Holy Father, then they sometimes affect his secretary too. Suffering is part of the Via Crucis but we do not choose it.”

A new Popemobile for Benedict XVI

Vatican Radio
Dec. 7, 2012

Friday afternoon Pope Benedict XVI received an early Christmas present, two new Popemobiles. The Mercedes-Benz M-Class have been specially crafted and fitted out with all the latest technology to allow the Pope to be close to the people he meets during his apostolic journeys, in complete safety and comfort.

Pope Benedict XVI will use the new Popemobile Saturday, on the occasion of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, during his traditional journey to the heart of Rome to pay homage to the statue of the Virgin in Piazza di Spagna.

The new Class M Popemobile includes top-of the range air conditioning and lighting, as well as a communications system between the driver and the rear dome. The body of the car is, as usual, mother of pearl white and a few centimeters lower than the previous model, to allow easier air transport, which is essential in the many trips that the Pope undertakes.

The design of the new Popemobile began a year ago and it took a total of nine months to adapt the car to the needs of the Holy Father. The concept and production were carried out by the Mercedes Benz engineers with the support of external partners. The car runs on unleaded petrol, as with the previous models.

The Popemobiles at the end of their road-life, are housed in the respective museums of the Vatican City State and Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart.

Pope Benedict: Mary a genuine expression of Grace

Vatican Radio
Dec. 8, 2012

Pope Benedict on Saturday expressed his closeness to the people of the Philippines who have been hit in recent days by a violent storm. The Holy Father prayed for the victims, for their families and for the many who have been displaced. He also prayed that their faith would give them the strength to face, what he called , “this difficult trial.”

The Pope was speaking from the Papal Apartments above St Peter’s Square after the Angelus prayer on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception


“Today, with joyful hearts, we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through her powerful intercession, may the Lord grant us the grace to reject sin and persevere in the grace of baptism.”

The Holy Father described Mary as a genuine expression of grace and he went on to say that the light that emanates from the figure of Mary helps us to understand the true meaning of original sin.

The Pope explained that in Mary, God demonstrates that sin is broken. Between the two there is full communion and full agreement. Mary has no sin because she all to God, she has totally emptied herself for him and is full of his grace and his love.

The Pope concluded by saying that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary expresses the certainty of faith that God's promises have been fulfilled: that through Mary comes the blessed fruit of the whole ' universe, Jesus the Saviour.

The Holy Father also reminded the faithful gathered for the Angelus that he would be making his traditional visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome on Saturday afternoon, to pay homage to Mary Immaculate.

Pope: Mary Immaculate teaches us to listen to the voice of God

Vatican Radio
Dec. 8, 2012

On a chilly but bright Saturday afternoon Pope Benedict XVI, to the joy of pilgrims and to the curiosity of visiting Christmas shoppers to Rome, made his way, in his new Pope mobile, to a packed square just a stones throw away from the famous Spanish Steps.

He was here to pay homage to Mary on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Following a reading from the Book of Revelation the Holy Father addressed the gathered faithful and visitors by the statue of Our Lady, telling them what a joy it was to be in Piazza di Spagna on this feast day in the Year of Faith.

In the first of three points on the Immaculate Conception, the Pope noted that the encounter between the divine messenger and the Immaculate Virgin goes completely unnoticed: nobody knows about it, nobody talks about it.

Pope Benedict went on to say that if this great event was to happen in our time, “it would not leave traces in newspapers and magazines, because it is a mystery that happens in silence.”

What often goes unnoticed and is silent, said the Pope “is more fruitful than the frenetic pace that characterizes our city.”

Being here at the statue Mary in the centre of Rome, he continued “reminds us that God's voice is not recognized in the noise and agitation”, his design on our personal and social life is not superficial, but goes to a deeper level, where the forces are not economic or political, but moral and spiritual.

Making his second point the Holy Father underlined that the Immaculate tells us that the salvation of the world is not the work of man - science, technology, ideology - but it is the work of grace.

Grace, he said means love in its purity and beauty, it reminds us that the power of God's love is stronger than evil and it can fill in the gaps that selfishness causes in the lives of individuals, families, and nations and the world.

Finally, coming to his third point Pope Benedict explained that the Immaculate Conception speaks of joy, the real joy that spreads in the heart freed from sin. Sin, he said brings with it a negative sadness, whereas Grace brings true joy that does not depend on the possession of things but is rooted in the depths, of the person.

The Pope then called on the faithful to learn to say no to the voice of selfishness, and to say yes to that which is authentic love. Mary's joy is full, he said because in her heart there is no shadow of sin.

Before taking his leave the Holy Father noted that in this time of Advent, Mary Immaculate teaches us to listen to the voice of God who speaks in silence and gives his grace, which frees us from sin and selfishness, so as to enjoy true joy.

Earlier in the day during the Angelus in St Peter’s Square the Pope described Mary as a genuine expression of grace.

The Holy Father also expressed his closeness to the people of the Philippines who have been hit in recent days by a violent storm.

The Pope prayed for the victims, for their families and for the many who have been displaced.

He also prayed that their faith would give them the strength to face, what he called , “this difficult trial.”


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Benedict XVI: “The Annunciation wouldn’t have made today's headlines”

Speaking on the Spanish Steps in Rome, the Pope recalled how “God can fill all the holes that selfishness creates in the lives of people, families, nations and the world”

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
VATICAN INSIDER
Dec. 8, 2012

Science and ideologies cannot save us, the Pope preached from the Spanish Steps in a cold and windy Piazza di Spagna that was packed to the brim with faithful. The theologian and pastor Pope, mentioned some strong and unequivocal concepts. Man can never stoop so low that God will not come to his rescue and Christianity is not all about prohibitions but is “good news”.

Mary is the model humanity should base itself on. Benedict XVI engages in some deep reflections on the Virgin Mary in his book “Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives”; these are so deep in fact that they almost raise her to co-saviour of humanity. In his brief but very dense reflection, the Pope commented on the Gospel of the Annunciation. He recalled that in Mary “there is no obstacle, there is no screen, there is nothing that can separate her from God. This is the point of her existence which is free from original sin: her relationship with God is completely rift-free; there is no division, there is not a shadow of selfishness, just perfect harmony: her little human heart is perfectly “centred” in God’s big heart.

This afternoon, Benedict XVI was struck by the affection he received from the crowd gathered in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. “I greet you with great affection, it is always a great joy to gather all together here, Romans, pilgrims and visitors, at the foot of the statue of our spiritual Mother, makes us feel united in the sign of faith,” the Pope said when he arrived in the square. Benedict XVI’s reflection can be boiled down to three essential points: Mary is silent and contemplative but at the same time open to God; her freedom from original sin means her relationship with God is flawless and this monument dedicated to Mary in the centre of Rome reminds us that most importantly, God’s voice cannot be heard in the midst of all the noise and commotion,” but by looking deep inside, not where “economic and political forces” act but where the “moral and spiritual forces” lie.

Second lesson to be learnt from Mary’s “yes”: salvation is not the work of man – science, technology, ideology - but the work of God’s grace. However low man may go, in one of the many “infernos” caused by the emptiness of selfishness, God will be there for him: He can “disperse the darkest clouds and give life richness and beauty even in the most inhumane of circumstances.” “The third thing the Immaculate Mary tells us is:” there is a real sense of joy in freeing oneself from selfishness. And Christianity, which is nothing more than “the victory over sin and death,” is not a series of “prohibitions” but “good news” and “true joy”. The Annunciation would never have made the papers. The really “big” things pass by “unnoticed” and “still silence” is more “fruitful” than the stress and commotion of life today.

And yet, the Pope reflected, we have so much to learn from that 17 year old’s “yes” to her God. For Christians, the Immaculate Conception means the Virgin Mary was born without original sin, Pope Benedict XVI explained. The Annunciation teaches us about sin and man’s relationship with God and about the fact that salvation does not come from technology, science or ideology. It also teaches us about Christ’s God: no matter how low we stoop, God will never abandon us, even in hell, whether this hell be “drugs” or some other form of degradation.

All those present in the Piazza di Spagna stood listening to Benedict XVI’s “lectio” in mesmerising silence. Romans, tourists and curious onlookers joined the Pope at the foot of the statue of Our Lady for the traditional gathering on the Spanish Steps. The statue commemorates Pope Pius IX’s proclamation of the Catholic dogma on the Immaculate Conception in 1854. The Pope reached the square in the popemobile, accompanied by his personal secretary, Mgr. Georg Gänswein and was greeted by his vicar, Cardinal Agosto Vallini. Also present in the square were the mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno and provincial and regional presidents Nicola Zingaretti and Renata Polverini, who kissed the Pope’s hand.

A long applause broke out as the Pope made his way back to the Vatican. His words linger, like a seed of hope in the hearts of faithful.


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Check out the lovely video Gabriella has posted on the Pics and Videos thread of the Pope at the statue of Our Lady on Saturday afternoon.


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Angelus: Preparing the way for Emmanuel

Vatican Radio
Dec. 9, 2012

Thousands of pilgrims wrapped in scarves and hats withstood a gelid northerly wind that swept St Peter’s Square Sunday to pray the midday Angelus prayer with Pope Benedict XVI, who urged them to prepare their hearts and lives for the coming of the Lord.

On the second Sunday of Advent the Pope dwelt on the figure of John the Baptist, presented in Luke’s Gospel. He spoke of him as ‘the voice’ crying out in the desert of today’s consumerist society, “where we seek joy in things”. Instead the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential way, so that Christmas is not only experienced as an outward celebration, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring peace, life and true joy to people.

“Our aim today” he continued “is to listen to that voice, to give space and welcome Jesus, the Word that saves us, to our hearts”.

In comments in French Pope Benedict said “Advent invites us to go out to meet the Lord, and therefore we set off on a journey. This reality is very familiar to people forced to leave their region, for various reasons, including war or poverty. Migrants are aware of the precarious nature of their situation and often encounter little understanding. May they be welcomed and have a dignified life! In preparation for Christmas time, may a joyous and fraternal solidarity come to aid their needs and support their hopes! Do not forget that every Christian is en route to his or her true home: Heaven. Christ is the only way!”


Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s Angelus reflections


Dear brothers and sisters!

In the season of Advent, the liturgy particularly emphasizes two figures who prepare the coming of the Messiah, the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Today St. Luke presents us with the latter, and does so with characteristics that differ from the other Evangelists. "All four Gospels place the figure of John the Baptist at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, as his precursor. St. Luke has further moved the connection between the two figures and their respective missions ... Already in their conception and birth, Jesus and John are brought into relation with each other "(The Infancy of Jesus, 23). This setting helps to understand that John, as the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of priestly families, is not only the last of the prophets, but also represents the whole priesthood of the Old Covenant and therefore prepares men to spiritual worship of the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus (cf. ibid. 27-28). Luke also dispels a mythical reading that is often made of the Gospels and historically contextualizes the life of John the Baptist: "In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor ... during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" (Lk 3, 1-2). Within this historical framework lies the true great event, the birth of Christ, which his contemporaries will not even notice. By God the great men of history form the backdrop to small!

John the Baptist is defined as the "voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths" (Lk 3:4). The voice proclaims the word, but in this case the Word of God, as it comes down to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness (cf. Lk 3:2). Thus he plays an important role, but always in relation to Christ. St. Augustine says: "John is the voice. Instead of the Lord says: "In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). John is the voice that passes away, Christ is the eternal Word who was in the beginning. If you take the word away from the voice, what is left? A faint sound. The voice without the word strikes the hearing, but does not build up the heart"(Sermon 293, 3). Our aim today is to listen to that voice, to give space and welcome Jesus, the Word that saves us, to our hearts. In this time of Advent, let us prepare to see, with the eyes of faith, God's salvation in the humble stable in Bethlehem (cf. Lk 3:6). In a consumerist society, where we seek joy in things, the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential way, so that Christmas is not only experienced as an outward party, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring peace, life and true joy to people.

We entrust our journey towards the Lord to the maternal intercession of Mary, Virgin of Advent, so we may be ready to welcome, into our hearts and life, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

I would now like to offer a word of greeting to all the English-speaking visitors present at this Angelus prayer. In today’s Gospel John the Baptist reminds us of the need for repentance and purification as we prepare a way for the Lord and await in hope his coming in glory. May God abundantly bless you and your loved ones!

PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN AMERICA TODAY

Vatican City, 10 December 2012 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon the International Congress "Ecclesia in America" on the Church in the American continent was inaugurated with a Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Basilica. The congress was organised by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus in collaboration with the Institute for Guadalupan Studies, and will be inspired by the work of the Synodal Assembly, convoked by Blessed John Paul II in November and December 1987, entitled "Encounter with the living Jesus Christ: The way to conversion, communion and solidarity in America".

The Holy Father, who arrived at the Basilica at 7 p.m., greeted the participants, first recalling that "Blessed John Paul II had the foresight and intuition to improve the relationships of cooperation between the particular Churches throughout North, Central and South America, at the same time facilitating greater solidarity among the nations of the continent. Today these themes merit review in order to put Christ's redeeming message into practice with greater diligence, in the hope of reaping abundant rewards of sanctity and ecclesial renewal. The theme that guided the reflections of the Synodal Assembly can also serve as an inspiration for your work during these days. ... In effect, Jesus Christ's love and the power of His grace must take root ever more intensely in the hearts of the people, families and Christian communities of your nations, to allow them to progress with dynamism along the paths of harmony and fair progress".

The Apostolic Exhortation "Ecclesia in America" focuses on "current challenges and difficulties which present specific and complex characteristics. Indeed, secularism and various religious groups are spreading throughout the continent, giving rise to numerous problems. Education and the promotion of a culture of life are matters of fundamental urgency in view of a widespread mentality that tends to attack the dignity of the person and damage the institution of marriage and family. How can one fail to be concerned about painful situations of emigration, displacement or violence, especially when linked to organised crime, narcotrafficking, corruption and arms dealing? And how should we face the painful inequalities and areas of poverty caused by questionable economic, political and social measures?"

The Pope emphasised that all these important questions require careful study, "yet in addition to their technical evaluation, the Catholic Church is convinced that the light for an adequate solution can only come from the encounter with the living Christ, which gives rise to attitudes and ways of acting based on love and truth. This is the decisive force which will transform the American continent. ... The love of Christ impels us to devote ourselves without reserve to proclaiming His name throughout America, bringing it freely and enthusiastically to the hearts of all its inhabitants. ... For this reason we ought to take up this commitment, ... encouraging priests, deacons and consecrated men and women and pastoral agents to purify and strengthen their interior lives ever more fully through a sincere relationship with the Lord and a worthy and frequent reception of the sacraments. This will be encouraged by suitable catechesis and a correct and ongoing doctrinal formation marked by complete fidelity to the Word of God and the Church's Magisterium and aimed at offering a response to the deepest questions and aspirations of the human heart. ... A renewed missionary spirit and zealous generosity in your commitment will be an irreplaceable contribution to what the universal Church expects and needs from the Church in America", concluded the Pope.

Benedict XVI and this year’s Christmas celebrations

The Vatican Press Office has published this year’s calendar of events for the Christmas season, a spiritual “tour de force” for the Pope

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
Dec. 11, 2012

The Christmas period will, as always, be a very busy time for the Pope: he will begin with a midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and will finish with the Epiphany celebrations on 6 January 2013. On this day he will also be conferring some Episcopal ordinations on bishops, including in all likelihood, his personal secretary, Mgr. Georg Gänswein.

THE CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Benedict XVI will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in the Solemnity of the Lord's Birth. The Eucharistic Celebration will be preceded by a prayer session in the Office of Reading and the singing of the Kalenda, starting at 21:00.


Tuesday 25 December 2012
SOLEMNITY OF THE LORD’S BIRTH
Central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, at 12:00

The Holy Father Benedict XVI will address His Christmas message to the world and pronounce the "Urbi et Orbi" Blessing.


Monday 31 December 2012
SOLEMNITY OF MARY, HOLIEST MOTHER OF GOD
Vatican Basilica, 17:00

The Holy Father Benedict XVI will preside over the First Vespers of the Solemnity of Mary, Holiest Mother of God, followed by the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the traditional Te Deum hymn in thanksgiving for the past year and the Eucharistic Blessing.


Tuesday 1 January 2013
SOLEMNITY OF MARY, THE HOLIEST MOTHER OF GOD – WORLD DAY OF PEACE
Papal Chapel, Vatican Basilica, 9:30

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI will celebrate Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Holiest Mother of God on the eighth day of Christmas, which falls on the same day as the 46th World Day of Peace on the theme "Blessed are the peacemakers".

The Mass will be co-celebrated with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone; the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson; the Titular Archbishop of Roselle and Substitute for General Affairs to the Secretary of State; the Titular Archbishop of Sagona and Secretary for Relations with States, Mgr. Dominique Mamberti; S.D.B., Titular Bishop of Bisarcio and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Mgr. Mario Toso and the Titular Archbishop of Midila and President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, Mgr. Beniamino Stella.


Sunday 6 January 2013
HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY
Papal Chapel. Vatican Basilica, 9:00
The Holy Father, Benedict XVI will celebrate Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, during which he will confer Episcopal Ordination upon some presbyters.


Sunday 13 January 2013
FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Sistine Chapel, 9:45
The Holy Father, Benedict XVI will preside over the Eucharistic Celebration, during which he will administer the Sacrament of Baptism to some children.

Audience: Discerning God’s presence in a distracted world

Vatican Radio
Dec. 12, 2012

“Advent … reminds us again and again that God is not removed from the world, He is not absent, we were not left to ourselves, but He comes to us in different ways, which we need to learn to discern”, said Pope Benedict XVI Wednesday. During his general audience, the Holy Father spoke of the season of preparation for Christmas and what it teaches us about our faith.

“With our faith, our hope and our charity, we are called every day to see and bear witness to this presence, in an often superficial and distracted world, to reflect in our lives the light that illuminated the cave of Bethlehem”


Below please find a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis:


God Dear Brothers and Sisters,

in the last catechesis I spoke of God's revelation as His communicating of Himself and His loving plan. This Revelation of God is inserted into human time and history: a history that becomes "the arena where we see what God does for humanity. God comes to us in the things we know best and can verify most easily, the things of our everyday life, apart from which we cannot understand ourselves"(John Paul II, Enc. Fides et Ratio, 12).

The Evangelist Mark reports, clearly and synthetically, the initial moments of Jesus' preaching: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). What illuminates and gives full meaning to the history of the world and man begins to shine in the cave of Bethlehem; it is the mystery that we will soon contemplate at Christmas: Salvation which is realized in Jesus Christ. In Jesus of Nazareth, God shows his face and asks man to decide to recognize and follow Him. God’s revealing Himself in history in order to enter into a relationship of loving dialogue with man, gives new meaning to the entire human journey. History is not just a succession of centuries, years, days, but it is the time of a presence that gifts it full meaning and opens it up to a solid hope.

Where can we read the stages of this revelation of God? Sacred Scripture is the best place to discover the events of this journey, and I - once again - invite everyone, in this Year of Faith, to take up the Bible more often and meditate on it and pay more attention to the readings in Sunday Mass, all of which is valuable nourishment for our faith.

Reading the Old Testament we see how God's intervention in the history of the people he has chosen and with whom he establishes a covenant are not actions that pass and are forgotten, but become "memory", constituting the "history of salvation" kept alive in the consciousness of the people of Israel through the celebration of the salvific events. Thus, in the Book of Exodus, the Lord tells Moses to celebrate the great moment of liberation from slavery in Egypt, the Passover, with these words: "This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever"(12:14). For all the people of Israel remembering what God has done becomes a sort of permanent imperative so much so that the passage of time is marked by the living memory of past events so that day by day they form the new history and remain present. In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses spoke to the people, saying, "be on your guard and be very careful not to forget the things your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live, but make them known to your children and to your children’s children"(4.9). And so he says to us: "Be careful not to forget the things that God has done for us”. Faith is fuelled by the discovery and the memory of the God who is always faithful, who guides history and is the sure and stable foundation on which to build their lives. The Magnificat, which the Virgin Mary raies to God, is one of the highest examples of the history of salvation. Mary praises God’s merciful action within the concrete journey of His people, fidelity to the covenant promises made to Abraham and his seed, and all of this is living memory of the Divine presence that never fails (cf. Luke 1:46-55 ).

For Israel, the Exodus is the central historical event in which God reveals his powerful action. God frees the Israelites from slavery in Egypt so that they can return to the Promised Land and worship Him as the one true God. Israel does not start out to be a people like other people, to have a national independence, but to serve God in worship and in life, to create a place where God is present and adored in the world and man is obedient to Him, and of course not only for them but in the midst of other peoples. And the celebration of this event is a way of making Him present and actual, because God's work is never lacking. He is faithful to his plan of liberation and continues to pursue it, so that man can recognize and serve his Lord and respond with faith and love to His actions.

God thus reveals Himself not only in the primordial act of creation, but entering in our history, in the history of a small nation that was neither the largest nor the strongest. And this revelation of God culminates in Jesus Christ: God, the Logos, the creative Word which is the origin of the world, became incarnate in Jesus and showed the true face of God. Jesus fulfils every promise, God's history with humanity culminates in him. When we read the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, as told by St. Luke, we clearly see how the person of Christ illuminates the Old Testament, the whole history of salvation and shows the great unified design of the two Testaments. In fact, Jesus explains to the two lost and disappointed travellers that He is the fulfilment of every promise: "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures" (24:27). The Evangelist describes the exclamation of the two disciples after recognizing that their companion was the Lord: "Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us" ( 32).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes the stages of Divine Revelation synthetically showing its development (cf. nn. 54-64): God invited man from the beginning to intimate communion with Him and even when man disobeyed Him and lost His friendship, God never abandoned him to the power of death, but again and again offered a covenant to man ( Roman Missal, Euc. Prayer IV). The Catechism retraces the path of God’s journey with man from His alliance with Noah after the flood, to His call to Abraham to leave his land become father to a multitude of nations. God formed Israel as His people, through the event of the Exodus, the Covenant of Sinai and the gift, through Moses, of the Law to be recognized and served as the one true and living God. With the prophets, God leads his people in the hope of salvation, through the second Isaiah we know of the second exodus, the return from exile in Babylon, the promised land, the re-establishment of the people and at the same time many remain dispersed and so begins the universality of this faith. In the end they are no longer waiting for just a king, David, a son of David, but the son of man, the salvation of all peoples, intercultural encounters take place first with Babylon and Syria, and then also with the Greek multitude. Thus we see how God’s journey is growing, becoming more open to the mystery of Christ, King of the universe. Finally, in Christ the Revelation in its fullness is realized, God’s loving plan in which He becomes one of us.

I have reflected on remembering the action of God in human history, to show the stages of this great plan of love demonstrated in the Old and New Testament: one plan of salvation addressed to all humanity, progressively revealed and realized by the power of God This is crucial for our journey of faith. We are in the liturgical season of Advent which prepares us for Christmas. As we all know, the word "Advent" means "coming", "presence", and once upon a time indicated the arrival of the king or emperor to a particular province. For us Christians it possesses a truly wonderful and stirring meaning : God has left His Heaven and come down to earth for man; forged an alliance with him coming into the history of a people, He is the king who came down to this poor province that is the earth, and gifted us with His visit, taking on human flesh and becoming man like us. Advent invites us to follow the path of this presence and reminds us again and again that God is not removed from the world, He is not absent, we were not left to ourselves, but He comes to us in different ways, which we need to learn to discern. And we, with our faith, our hope and our charity, are called every day to see and bear witness to this presence, in an often superficial and distracted world, to reflect in our lives the light that illuminated the cave of Bethlehem!

I offer a cordial welcome to the newly professed Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity. My greeting also goes to the group of visitors from Oklahoma Wesleyan University. Finally, a thought for the young, the sick and newlyweds. Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas and Star of the New Evangelization. Dear young people, learn to love and hope at the school of Mary, dear sick people, the Blessed Virgin is comfort and companionship in your suffering and you, dear newlyweds, entrust to the Mother of Jesus, your marital journey. Upon all pilgrims present at today’s Audience I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.


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Pope Benedict sends first-ever Papal Tweet

Pope Benedict XVI sent out his first-ever message via Twitter under his personal Twitter handle: @pontifex, on Wednesday. “Dear friends,” wrote the Holy Father, “I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.” The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Mons. Paul Tighe, told Vatican Radio the event was, “An extraordinary moment,” adding that the attention to the event within the “Twitter-sphere” itself was quite impressive: more than 2 thousand re-tweets in under two minutes. It is also understood that the Holy Father’s followers have already topped the 1 million mark. Through the course of the afternoon, the Holy Father will be responding to a series of questions chosen from those submitted to #askpontifex.

THE POPE'S FIRST THREE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON TWITTER

Vatican City, 13 December 2012 (VIS) - @Pontifex, Pope Benedict XVI's Twitter account, attracted over a million and a half followers on its first day of existence. The Pope, after his first tweet at the end of the usual Wednesday general audience, responded during the course of the day to three questions posed by members of the public from three different continents. The first was: "How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?". The Holy Father's answer was "By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need".

Shortly afterwards a second question was added: "How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?". "We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful", responded Benedict XVI.

The final tweet, posted around 6 p.m., was: "Offer everything you do to the Lord, ask his help in all the circumstances of daily life and remember that he is always beside you", in response to: "Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?"

CHRISTMAS TREE: A SIGN AND REMINDER OF DIVINE LIGHT

Vatican City, 14 December 2012 (VIS) - This morning Benedict XVI received in audience a delegation from the Italian region of Molise, which this year has donated the fir tree raised next to the Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square. The lighting ceremony will take place later on today.

The Pope thanked the delegation for the silver fir - which was accompanied by eight other smaller trees destined for the Apostolic Palace and various other locations around the Vatican - and greeted them following a brief address.

"God became man and came among us to dispel the shadows of sin, bringing His divine light to humanity. This highest of lights, symbolised and recalled by the Christmas tree, has not only shown no sign of dimming through the passing of the centuries and the millennia, but rather continues to shine upon us and to illuminate every person who comes into the world, especially in moments of uncertainty and difficulty. Jesus Himself declared, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life'. ... And, the attempts made through the ages to extinguish the light of God, to replace it with the glare of illusion and deceit, have heralded episodes of tragic violence against mankind. This is because the attempt to cancel the name of God from the pages of history results in distortion, in which even the most beautiful and noble words lose their true meaning".

Vatican Christmas Tree: Shining God’s light in the world

Vatican Radio
Dec. 14, 2012

“Christmas trees are a sign of God's light which continues to shine despite attempts to put it out”, said Pope Benedict XVI Friday, receiving a delegation from the Italian Molise Region which donated this years’ Christmas tree in St. Peter's Square.

At sundown, in a festive ceremony of Christmas carols and readings from Gospel passages narrating the birth of Christ, to the joy of many young children gathered beneath its bows, the Christmas lights were officially switched on by a small boy named Mario, illuminating the evening sky.

In his address earlier Friday morning, the Pope thanked the delegation for the silver fir - which was accompanied by eight other smaller trees destined for the Apostolic Palace and various other locations around the Vatican .

“When you try to erase the name of God from the pages of history”, he continued “the result is that you draw crooked lines, where even the most beautiful and noble words lose their true meaning. Think of words like "freedom", "common good", "justice" deprived of rootedness in God and in his love, in the God who has shown us his face in Jesus Christ, these realities are often at the mercy of human interests, losing their bond with the demands of truth and civic responsibility”.

"God became man and came among us to dispel the shadows of sin, bringing His divine light to humanity. This highest of lights, symbolised and recalled by the Christmas tree, has not only shown no sign of dimming through the passing of the centuries and the millennia, but rather continues to shine upon us and to illuminate every person who comes into the world, especially in moments of uncertainty and difficulty. Jesus Himself declared, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life".

Pope: John the Baptist teaches us to manage justice, taxes, power

Dec. 16, 2012

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Italy and the entire world, where people complain of unfair taxes, of a pitiless power, of an unjust economic crisis, can find inspiration in the words of John the Baptist. This is what Benedict XVI affirmed in his reflection before the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, adorned for the past two days by a giant Christmas tree.

The pontiff revealed some interesting couples such as justice and charity, taxes and honesty power and respect which are needed in our contemporary society, concluding that "the signs of the Baptist are always relevant in our complex world, things would be much better if each of us observed these rules of conduct. "

Recalling the Gospel of today's Mass (Advent III-C), which presents the figure of John the Baptist, the Pope commented on the words of the Baptist when asked "What should we do?" (Lk 3,10.12.14), while waiting for the Messiah.

"The first response - said the pope - is addressed to the crowds in general. The Baptist says: "Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise "(v. 11). Here we can see a criterion of justice, enlivened by charity. Justice asks us to overcome the imbalance between those who have the superfluous and those who lack basic necessities; charity urges us to be careful of one another, to reach out to others and meet their needs, instead of finding excuses to defend our own interests. Justice and charity are not opposed, but both are necessary and complement each other. "Love will always be necessary, even in the most just society," because "there will always be situations of material need where help is indispensable in the form of concrete love of neighbor" (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, 28) " .

"The second answer - said the pope - John makes to some" tax collectors" on behalf of the Romans. Tax collectors were despised, also because they often took advantage of their position to steal. The Baptist advises them not to change jobs, but neither to exact more than what has been set (see verse. 13). The prophet, in God's name, does not seek exceptional gestures, but above all the honest fulfillment of one's duty. A first step toward eternal life is always keeping the commandments, in this case the seventh: "Thou shalt not steal" (cf. Ex 20:15). "

"The third response - he concluded - regards soldiers, another category with a certain power, and therefore tempted to abuse it. John says to the soldiers:" Do not oppress and extort anything from anyone; be content with your wages "(v. . 14). Again, conversion begins with honesty and respect for others, an indication that applies to everyone, especially those with greater responsibility. "

After the Marian prayer, Benedict XVI appealed for the families of the capital to give hospitality to young people who will arrive in Rome from 28 December to 2 January for the European meeting organized by the Taizé Community. "I thank the families - said the pope - who, according to Roman tradition of hospitality, have made themselves available to accommodate these young people. Because, thanks to God, the demands are higher than expected, I renew the appeal already addressed to parishes, so that other families, with great simplicity, can enjoy this beautiful experience of Christian fellowship".

Finally, during his greetings in Italian, the Pope welcomed the children of Rome, in St Peter's Square for the traditional blessing of the statues of Baby Jesus, which will be placed in the manger on Christmas Eve, "Beloved children, - he said - as I bless the little statues of Jesus that you will put in your nativity scene, I cordially bless each of you and your families, as well as educators and the Roman Oratory Centers. "


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Pope: prayers at Angelus for victims of Connecticut school massacre

Vatican Radio
Dec. 16, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI prayed for the victims of Friday’s mass murder of school children in Newtown, Connecticut on Sunday. Speaking in English to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with him on this third Sunday in Advent, the Holy Father renewed expressions (first offered on Friday in a Message of condolence to the Diocese of Bridgeport, of which Newtown is part) of his profound grief over the incident, as well as his promises of prayers for the victims and spiritual closeness to their families. The Pope went on to call all the faithful everywhere to renew their prayer and action in favour of the cause of peace. Below, please find the full text of Pope Benedict's English remarks:


I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Angelus. I was deeply saddened by Friday’s senseless violence in Newtown, Connecticut. I assure the families of the victims, especially those who lost a child, of my closeness in prayer. May the God of consolation touch their hearts and ease their pain. During this Advent Season, let us dedicate ourselves more fervently to prayer and to acts of peace. Upon those affected by this tragedy, and upon each of you, I invoke God’s abundant blessings!


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Pope: Gaudete Mass at Roman Parish

Vatican Radio
Dec. 16, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass on Sunday at the parish church of St. Patrick at Colle Prenestino, on the eastern outskirts of Rome. In his homily, the Holy Father spoke of the certainty we have in faith that the Lord is present, regardless of how circumstance might appear to give cause for mistrust, sadness, and even despair. The presence of the Lord is by itself enough to brighten and gladden hearts. He reminded the faithful that it is Jesus, who brings salvation to humanity: a new relationship with God that triumphs over evil and death, and that is the true joy, “for this presence of the Lord who comes to enlighten our path, though this is often overwhelmed at present by the darkness of selfishness.” The Pope also reminded the gathered parishoners that the Lord always listens to us, even when we turn away from Him through sin - He never rejects our prayers. “Although He does not always respond as we might want,” said Pope Benedict, “God nevertheless responds.” Pope Benedict spoke of God not as distant, but as Emmanuel - God with us - a God with us in the Holy Eucharist, with us in the living Church. We must be carriers of this presence of God, and we must respond to His gifts with grateful love. Pope Benedict went on to say, "[The one who] welcomes the gifts of God in a selfish way, does not find true joy. Rather, it is the one who takes occasion by the gifts received from God to love Him with sincere gratitude and to communicate to others his love, who has a heart full of joy.” He concluded, “Let us remember this!”

Pope receives Palestinian President

Vatican Radio
Dec. 17, 2012

This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace Pope Benedict XVI received in audience Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Abbas subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

In a press release Monday, the Holy See’s Press Office said “the cordial discussions made reference to the recent Resolution approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations by which Palestine was recognised as a Non-member Observer State of the aforementioned Organisation. It is hoped that this initiative will encourage the commitment of the international community to finding a fair and lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which may be reached only by resuming negotiations between the Parties, in good faith and according due respect to the rights of both."

The Press Office said the Pope and Mr. Abbas “then turned to the situation in the Region, troubled by numerous conflicts, in the hope that the courage for reconciliation and peace will be found. Finally, mention was made of the contribution Christian communities can offer to the common good in the Palestinian territories and throughout the Middle East.”


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Pope: Sport a journey of authentic human development

This summer the Italian Olympic and Paralympic teams competed at the London 2012 games bringing back a significant medal haul. Team Italy won 28 Olympic medals including 8 Gold and 28 Paralympic medals of which 9 were Gold. On Monday in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican, Pope Benedict paid tribute to this sporting excellence when he received in audience the delegation of the Italian Olympic Committee.

The Pope expressed his understanding of the harsh discipline and preparation needed to get to Olympic level.

The Holy Father also highlighted the fact that every sport both amateur and competitive, requires fairness in competition, respect for the body, and a sense of solidarity.

Sport, he said, is important because it reveals man to himself and gives him a profound understanding of the value of his life.

Speaking to those present, Pope Benedict said that sport’s managers, as well as coaches, and sports operators in general, are called to be witnesses of the good of humanity, cooperating with families and educational institutions for the education of young people, in order to achieve the best in sport.

The Pope also noted that the pressure to achieve significant results must never push sports people to take shortcuts as in the case of doping. Team spirit, he said is an incentive to avoid these dead ends, but also to support those who acknowledge a mistake.

In conclusion, the Holy Father emphasized that in this Year of Faith sport can educate a person to 'spiritual "competitiveness" . It can also be considered, he added, a modern "Court of the Gentiles," that is, a valuable opportunity to meet believers and non-believers, to experience joy and to encounter people of different cultures, languages ​​and religions.

Vatileaks: Benedict XVI meets Commission of Cardinals to discuss inquiry outcome

A papal pardon for Paolo Gabriele is near. But the cardinals Herranz, Tomko and De Giorgi have gone on with their full-scale investigations

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN INSIDER
Dec. 17, 2012

Benedict XVI received their Emminences Cardinals Julian Herranz, Josef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi in an audience today. The event was barely given any focus at all in today’s Vatican Press Office Bulletin, squeezed in between the audience with the Italian Olympic committee and with Palestinian leader Abu Mazen. What is the significance then of the Pope’s meeting with the commission of three cardinals set up to investigate the Vatileaks scandal? Readers will recall that the three cardinals presented their first report on the case to the Pope last July. The report contained the results of a number of examinations carried out in utmost secrecy. From these, it emerged that the Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele was responsible for the Vatican document leak - he confessed to and was eventually charged with stealing and distributing confidential documents belonging to Benedict XVI. The examinations also gave a clear picture of the climate in which the Vatileaks scandal developed.

It is not unlikely that one of the issues discussed during the meeting was the potential papal pardon for Paolo Gabriele. Some sources say he could be granted a pardon in time for Christmas, which would allow the Pope’s former butler who is currently being held in a Vatican prison cell, to spend the holidays with his family. The Pope wished to make it clear that a pardon was not a given, particularly as the interested party had not demonstrated complete awareness of the gravity of his offence. The written explanation of how the verdict against Paolo Gabriele was reached, stated that his crime was a "reprehensible" violation of trust that damaged the Pope himself and the rights of the Holy See, the Vatican City state and the entire Catholic Church. At the same time, however, the judges stated they believed he had acted in good faith for the benefit of the Church, not in order to harm it. The same conclusion seems to have been reached by the cardinals as well.

But this was not the only item in the agenda for today’s audience with the Commission of Cardinals. Indeed, its members continued their examinations even after the summer. So the Vatileaks case has not in theory drawn to a close yet, despite Gabriele and the Vatican computer technician Caludio Sciarpelletti having been tried and sentenced. Sciarpelletti will continue to work in the Secretariat of State but is being moved tot he statistics department.

More importantly, now that the confidential documents have revealed the truth about hat’s really going on inside the Vatican, there’s no putting a lid on the issue. The Commission of Cardinals has worked really hard and with great determination, explaining that while the Vatican Tribunal took care of the so-called “external hole”, that is, the public consequences of the Vatileaks scandal, the job of the three cardinals appointed by the Pope to investigate into the affair, was to deal with the “internal hole”, though not from a sacramental point of view. The Commission then did not only look into the Vatican document leak, but also into relations among members of the Roman Curia, existing tensions and the roles of the various figures mentioned in the published documents.

After the Vatileaks scandal broke out, Benedict XVI reconfirm his faith in his collaborators. At the same time, he made some clear-cut decisions: he called for a second Consistory to make up for February’s one in which the cardinals appointed were mainly Italian and most of them Curia members. He created James Harvey (Prefect of the Papal Household) a cardinal, handing the title of Prefect over to his personal secretary Georg Gänswein, whom he also elevated to the dignity of Archbishop. This strengthened Gänswein’s role as an interface between the Pope and the outside world. And the Pope may have more surprises still in store.

Audience: What Mary teaches us about faith

Vatican Radio
Dec. 19, 2012

“Mary is filled with joy on learning that she is to be the mother of Jesus, God’s Son made man. True joy comes from union with God”, but she also teaches us that “everyone’s life of faith has times of light, but also times of darkness. If you want to walk in the light, let the word of God be your guide”.

This, in a “tweeted” nutshell was the focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s catechesis Wednesday, in his final General Audience before of Advent. In fact these two 140-character tweets were sent by the Pope to his over 2 million followers in a variety of languages, immediately after his weekly appointment with thousands of faithful in a festively decorated Paul VI hall.

Meanwhile, he told those physically present Wednesday that Mary’s example reminds us that “faith, while fully obedient to the Lord’s will, also must seek daily to discern, understand and accept that will”.


Below a Vatican Radio translation of the Holy Father’s audience address:


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

during the Advent journey, the Virgin Mary has a special place as she who waited for the fulfilment of God’s promises in a unique way, welcoming Jesus, the Son of God, in faith and in the flesh, in full obedience to the Divine will. Today I would like to briefly reflect on Mary's faith beginning with the great mystery of the Annunciation.

"Chaîre kecharitomene, ho Kyrios meta sou", "Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). These are the words - recounted by the Evangelist Luke - in which the archangel Gabriel greets Mary. At first glance the term Chaîre, "hail", looks like a normal greeting in the usual Greek, but this word, when read against the background of the biblical tradition, takes on a much deeper meaning. This same term is present four times in the Greek version of the Old Testament and always as a proclamation of joy at the coming of the Messiah (cf. Zeph 3:14; Joel 2:21; Zech 9:9; Lam 4:21). The angel's greeting to Mary is then an invitation to joy, a deep joy, announcing the end of the sadness that is in the world in front of the limits of life, suffering, death, wickedness, the darkness of evil which seems to obscure the light of the Divine goodness. It is a greeting that marks the beginning of the Gospel, the Good News.

But why is Mary invited to rejoice in this way? The answer is in the second part of the greeting: "The Lord is with you." Here, too, in order to understand the meaning of the expression we must turn to the Old Testament. In the Book of Zephaniah we find this expression "Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion, ... the King of Israel, the Lord is in your midst... The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty savoir" (3:14-17). In these words there is a double promise made to Israel, to the daughter of Zion, God will come as a saviour and will dwell in the midst of his people, in the womb of the daughter of Zion. In the dialogue between the angel and Mary this very promise is realized: Mary is identified with the people married to God, she really is the daughter of Zion in person; in her the waiting for the definitive coming of God is accomplished, the living God comes to dwell in her.

In the angel's greeting, Mary is called "full of grace": in Greek the word "grace," charis, has the same linguistic root of the word "joy." Even in this expression we further clarify the source of Mary’s rejoicing: the joy comes from the grace that comes from communion with God, by having so vital a connection with him, from being the dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, totally shaped by God’s action. Mary is the creature of God who, in a unique way, that has opened the door to her Creator, has placed herself in His hands, without limits. She lives entirely in and of her relationship with the Lord; it is an attitude of listening, careful to recognize the signs of God in the journey of His people; she is inserted into a story of faith and hope in the promises of God, which constitutes the fabric of her existence. And freely submits herself to the received word, to the will of God in the obedience of faith.

The Evangelist Luke tells the story of Mary through a subtle parallel with the story of Abraham. As the great patriarch was the father of believers, who responded to God's call to leave the land in which he lived, to leave his certainties, to begin the journey to an unknown land, and possessed only in the divine promise, so Mary fully entrusts herself to the word that announces God’s messenger and becomes a model and mother of all believers.

I would like to emphasize another important point: the opening of the soul to God and His action in faith also includes the element of darkness. The relationship between human beings and God does not erase the distance between the Creator and creature, does not eliminate what the Apostle Paul said in front of the depth of the wisdom of God, "How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!" (Rom 11 , 33). But he who - like Mary - is completely open to God, comes to accept the will of God, even if it is mysterious, although it often does not correspond to his own will and can be a sword that pierces the soul, as Simeon prophetically tells Mary, when Jesus is presented in the Temple (cf. Lk 2:35). The journey of faith of Abraham includes the moment of joy for the gift of his son Isaac, but also a time of darkness, when he has to climb Mount Moriah to carry out a paradoxical gesture: God asks him to sacrifice his son, who has he only just gifted him. On the mountain, the angel tells him: " Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do the least thing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold from me your son, your only one"(Gen 22:12); Abraham’s complete trust in God,faithful to his promise is not lacking even when his word is mysterious and difficult to understand. So it is with Mary, her faith lives the joy of the Annunciation, but also passes through the darkness of the Crucifixion of her Son, in order to reach the light of the Resurrection.

It's no different in our own journey of faith: we encounters moments of light, but also passages where God seems absent, His silence weighs on our hearts and His will does not correspond to our own, to what we would like to . But the more we open ourselves to God, the more we receive the gift of faith, the more we place all our trust in Him - like Abraham and like Mary - the more He empowers us with his presence, to live every situation of life in peace and assurance of His faithfulness and His love. But this means going outside of ourselves and beyond our own projects, so that the Word of God can be a lamp to guide our thoughts and our actions.

I want to focus again on one aspect that emerges in the stories on the Infancy of Jesus narrated by St. Luke. Mary and Joseph bring their son to Jerusalem, to the Temple to present him to the Lord and consecrate him as required by the law of Moses, "Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord" (Lk 2:22-24). This gesture of the Holy Family of Nazareth takes on an even deeper significance when read in the light of the Gospel knowledge of the twelve year old Jesus who, after three days of searching, is found in the Temple questioning the teachers. Responding to Mary and Joseph’s words full of concern: "Son , why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety "is the mystery of Jesus' answer:" Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? "(Lk 2.48 to 49). Mary must renew the deep faith with which she said "yes" at the Annunciation; she must accept that the true Father of Jesus has precedence, she must learn to let go of the Son she gave birth to so he may follow his mission. And the "yes" of Mary to the will of God, the obedience of faith, is repeated throughout her life, until the most difficult moment, that of the Cross.

Faced with all this, we can ask ourselves: how could Mary live this journey next to her Son with so strong a faith, even in darkness, without losing full confidence in God? There is an underlying attitude that Mary assumes in the face of what is happening in her life. At the Annunciation she is disturbed at hearing the words of the angel – it is the fear that man feels when touched by the closeness of God - but it is not the attitude of those who are afraid in front of what God may ask. Mary reflects, ponders the meaning of this greeting (cf. Lk 1:29). The Greek word used in the Gospel to define this "reflection", "dielogizeto" refers to the root of the word "dialogue." This means that Mary comes into an intimate dialogue with the Word of God that has been announced, she does not consider it superficially, but dwells on it, allows it to penetrate her, her mind and heart, to understand what the Lord wants from her, the meaning of the announcement. Another reference to the interior attitude of Mary before the action of God we find, again in the Gospel of St. Luke, at the time of the birth of Jesus, after the adoration of the shepherds. It is said that Mary "kept all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Lk 2:19), we could say that she "held them together", "placed" all the events that were happening in her heart; placed each element , every word, every fact together as a whole and pondered it, held it, recognizing that everything comes from the will of God. Mary does not stop at a first superficial understanding of what is happening in her life, but knows how to look deeper, she allows herself to be challenged by events, she processes them, discerns them, and gains the understanding that only faith can provide. This is the profound humility of Mary’s obedient faith that welcomes even what it does not understand of God’s action, allowing God to open her mind and heart. "Blessed is she who believed in the word of the Lord" (Lk 1:45), says her relative Elizabeth. It is for her faith that all generations will call her blessed.

Dear friends, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord which we will soon celebrate, invites us to live this same humility and obedience of faith. The glory of God is manifested in the triumph and the power of a king, which does not shine in a famous city, in a sumptuous palace, but dwells in the womb of a virgin and is revealed in the poverty of a child. The omnipotence of God, even in our own lives, acts with the often silent strength of truth and love. Faith tells us, then, that the defenceless power of the Child, in the end, defeats the noise of the powers of the world.

As part of our catechesis for this Year of Faith, it is fitting, during these last days of Advent, to consider the faith of Mary, the Virgin Mother of Christ. At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel greets Mary with an invitation to rejoice because the Lord is with her. This joy is that of the messianic hope of God’s people, the daughter of Zion, now being fulfilled in her. It is also the fruit of the grace which fills Mary’s heart and shapes her obedience to God’s word. Mary’s faith, like that of Abraham, combines complete trust in the Lord’s promises with a certain “unknowing”. In her life Mary knew, as we do, that God’s will can seem at times obscure and far from our expectations; it involves embracing the mystery of the Cross. It is significant that at the Annunciation Mary ponders in her heart the meaning of the Angel’s message. Her example reminds us that faith, while fully obedient to the Lord’s will, also must seek daily to discern, understand and accept that will. In this holy season, may Our Lady’s prayers help us to grow in a humble, trusting faith which will open the door to God’s grace in our hearts and in our world.

The Pope: "A time for Christians to engage with the world"

The Pope's article for the “Financial Times” (December 20, 2012) originates from a request from the editorial office of the “Financial Times” itself which, taking as a cue the recent publication of the Pope's book on Jesus' infancy, asked for his comments on the occasion of Christmas.

Vatican Insider
Dec. 20, 2012

“Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,” was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes. His questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman rule in the land of Israel. Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus really was the long awaited Messiah, then surely he would oppose the Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose him either as a threat to the regime, or a fraud. Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently cautioning against both the politicization of religion and the deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of wealth. His audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was of an altogether higher order. As he told Pontius Pilate, “My kingship is not of this world.” The Christmas stories in the New Testament are intended to convey a similar message. Jesus was born during a “census of the whole world” taken by Caesar Augustus, the Emperor renowned for bringing the Pax Romana to all the lands under Roman rule. Yet this infant, born in an obscure and far-flung corner of the Empire, was to offer the world a far greater peace, truly universal in scope and transcending all limitations of space and time.

Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir, but the liberation he brought to his people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it was about conquering sin and death forever. The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the simplicity of the crib scene? Christmas can be the time in which we learn to read the Gospel, to get to know Jesus not only as the Child in the manger, but as the one in whom we recognize God made Man. It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs – be it in the Houses of Parliament or the Stock Exchange. Christians shouldn’t shun the world; they should engage with it. But their involvement in politics and economics should transcend every form of ideology.

Christians fight poverty out of a recognition of the supreme dignity of every human being, created in God’s image and destined for eternal life. Christians work for more equitable sharing of the earth’s resources out of a belief that, as stewards of God’s creation, we have a duty to care for the weakest and most vulnerable. Christians oppose greed and exploitation out of a conviction that generosity and selfless love, as taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth, are the way that leads to fullness of life. Christian belief in the transcendent destiny of every human being gives urgency to the task of promoting peace and justice for all. Because these goals are shared by so many, much fruitful cooperation is possible between Christians and others.

Yet Christians render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God. Christians have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made by Caesar. From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the last century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God. When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it. In Italy, many crib scenes feature the ruins of ancient Roman buildings in the background.

This shows that the birth of the child Jesus marks the end of the old order, the pagan world, in which Caesar’s claims went virtually unchallenged. Now there is a new king, who relies not on the force of arms, but on the power of love. He brings hope to all those who, like himself, live on the margins of society. He brings hope to all who are vulnerable to the changing fortunes of a precarious world. From the manger, Christ calls us to live as citizens of his heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that all people of good will can help to build here on earth.

Pope: Address to the Roman Curia

Vatican Radio
Dec. 21, 2012

“The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man”, said Pope Benedict XVI Friday in his Christmas address to members of the Roman Curia.

Often referred to as the Pope’s ‘State of the Church’ address, his discourse encompassed the main ecclesial events of the past year: the visit to Mexico and Cuba, and the “unforgettable encounters with the power of faith” there; the Meeting of the families in Milan, the visit to Lebanon for the consignment of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation; the Synod on the New Evangelization; the inauguration of the Year of Faith; the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.

All these occasions, the Pope noted “spoke to fundamental themes of this moment in history: the family (Milan), serving peace in the world and dialogue among religions (Lebanon) and proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ in our day to those who have yet to encounter him and to the many who know him only externally and hence do not actually recognize him”.

The Holy Father then focused particularly on the theme of the family and the nature of dialogue, dedicating most of his lengthy discourse to them.

The Milan meeting, he said shows that “the family is still strong and vibrant today” but he added “there is no denying the crisis that threatens it to its foundations – especially in the western world”. The Pope recognized the widespread refusal in today's world "to make any committment ” as one of the biggest challenges to family life, "a false understanding of freedom and self-realization as well as the desire to escape suffering" . Only in self-giving, noted Pope Benedict “does man…discover the breadth of his humanity. When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost”.

But concern for family is not exclusive to Catholic Church. In a lengthy reference to writings of the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, on the same topic, the Pope said that the very notion of what being human really means and the differences between male and female, "is being called into question under the term “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality".

Thus he noted, "sex is no longer a given element of nature" but has been reduced to "a social role that we choose for ourselves”. While we deplore the manipulation of nature where our environment is concerned, it has now become man’s "fundamental choice where he himself is concerned”.

Pope Benedict warned, “if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him”. Bernheim, concluded the Pope “shows that now, perforce, from being a subject of rights, the child has become an object to which people have a right and which they have a right to obtain”.

The Holy Father then addressed a second major theme, “which runs through the whole of the past year from Assisi to the Synod on the New Evangelization: the question of dialogue and proclamation”.

He spoke of three principal areas of dialogue, in which the Church must be present in the struggle for man and his humanity: dialogue with states, dialogue with society – which includes dialogue with cultures and with science – and finally dialogue with religions.

“It is about the concrete problems of coexistence and shared responsibility for society, for the state, for humanity. In the process, it is necessary to learn to accept the other in his otherness and the otherness of his thinking. To this end, the shared responsibility for justice and peace must become the guiding principle of the conversation. A dialogue about peace and justice is bound to pass beyond the purely pragmatic to an ethical quest for the values that come before everything. In this way what began as a purely practical dialogue becomes a quest for the right way to live as a human being”.

Regarding dialogue with other religions, Pope Benedict spoke of two fundamental rules: Firstly that dialogue does not aim at conversion, but at understanding. In this respect it differs from evangelization, from mission; Secondly, that accordingly, both parties to the dialogue remain consciously within their identity, which the dialogue does not place in question either for themselves or for the other”.

Pope Benedict XVI concluded by reflection on evangelization: “the word of proclamation is effective in situations where man is listening in readiness for God to draw near, where man is inwardly searching and thus on the way towards the Lord...At the end of the year, we pray to the Lord that the Church, despite all her shortcomings, may be increasingly recognizable as his dwelling-place”.

Below please find the full text of the Holy Father’s Address:


Dear Cardinals,
Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is with great joy that I meet you today, dear Members of the College of Cardinals, Representatives of the Roman Curia and the Governorate, for this traditional event in the days leading up to the feast of Christmas. I greet each one of you cordially, beginning with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, whom I thank for his kind words and for the warm good wishes that he extended to me on behalf of all present. The Dean of the College of Cardinals reminded us of an expression that appears frequently during these days in the Latin liturgy: Prope est iam Dominus, venite, adoremus! The Lord is already near, come, let us adore him! We too, as one family, prepare ourselves to adore the Child in the stable at Bethlehem who is God himself and has come so close as to become a man like us. I willingly reciprocate your good wishes and I thank all of you from my heart, including the Papal Representatives all over the world, for the generous and competent assistance that each of you offers me in my ministry.

Once again we find ourselves at the end of a year that has seen all kinds of difficult situations, important questions and challenges, but also signs of hope, both in the Church and in the world. I shall mention just a few key elements regarding the life of the Church and my Petrine ministry. First of all, there were the journeys to Mexico and Cuba – unforgettable encounters with the power of faith, so deeply rooted in human hearts, and with the joie de vivre that issues from faith. I recall how, on my arrival in Mexico, there were endless crowds of people lining the long route, cheering and waving flags and handkerchiefs. I recall how, on the journey to the attractive provincial capital Guanajuato, there were young people respectfully kneeling by the side of the road to receive the blessing of Peter’s Successor; I recall how the great liturgy beside the statue of Christ the King made Christ’s kingship present among us – his peace, his justice, his truth. All this took place against the backdrop of the country’s problems, afflicted as it is by many different forms of violence and the hardships of economic dependence. While these problems cannot be solved simply by religious fervour, neither can they be solved without the inner purification of hearts that issues from the power of faith, from the encounter with Jesus Christ. And then there was Cuba – here too there were great liturgical celebrations, in which the singing, the praying and the silence made tangibly present the One that the country’s authorities had tried for so long to exclude. That country’s search for a proper balancing of the relationship between obligations and freedom cannot succeed without reference to the basic criteria that mankind has discovered through encounter with the God of Jesus Christ.

As further key moments in the course of the year, I should like to single out the great Meeting of Families in Milan and the visit to Lebanon, where I consigned the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation that is intended to offer signposts for the life of churches and society in the Middle East along the difficult paths of unity and peace. The last major event of the year was the Synod on the New Evangelization, which also served as a collective inauguration of the Year of Faith, in which we commemorate the opening of the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago, seeking to understand it anew and appropriate it anew in the changed circumstances of today.

All these occasions spoke to fundamental themes of this moment in history: the family (Milan), serving peace in the world and dialogue among religions (Lebanon) and proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ in our day to those who have yet to encounter him and to the many who know him only externally and hence do not actually recognize him. Among these broad themes, I should like to focus particularly on the theme of the family and the nature of dialogue, and then to add a brief observation on the question of the new evangelization.

The great joy with which families from all over the world congregated in Milan indicates that, despite all impressions to the contrary, the family is still strong and vibrant today. But there is no denying the crisis that threatens it to its foundations – especially in the western world. It was noticeable that the Synod repeatedly emphasized the significance of the family as the authentic setting in which to hand on the blueprint of human existence. This is something we learn by living it with others and suffering it with others. So it became clear that the question of the family is not just about a particular social construct, but about man himself – about what he is and what it takes to be authentically human. The challenges involved are manifold. First of all there is the question of the human capacity to make a commitment or to avoid commitment. Can one bind oneself for a lifetime? Does this correspond to man’s nature? Does it not contradict his freedom and the scope of his self-realization? Does man become himself by living for himself alone and only entering into relationships with others when he can break them off again at any time? Is lifelong commitment antithetical to freedom? Is commitment also worth suffering for? Man’s refusal to make any commitment – which is becoming increasingly widespread as a result of a false understanding of freedom and self-realization as well as the desire to escape suffering – means that man remains closed in on himself and keeps his “I” ultimately for himself, without really rising above it. Yet only in self-giving does man find himself, and only by opening himself to the other, to others, to children, to the family, only by letting himself be changed through suffering, does he discover the breadth of his humanity. When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost.

The Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, has shown in a very detailed and profoundly moving study that the attack we are currently experiencing on the true structure of the family, made up of father, mother, and child, goes much deeper. While up to now we regarded a false understanding of the nature of human freedom as one cause of the crisis of the family, it is now becoming clear that the very notion of being – of what being human really means – is being called into question. He quotes the famous saying of Simone de Beauvoir: “one is not born a woman, one becomes so” (on ne naît pas femme, on le devient). These words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term “gender” as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society. The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves. According to the biblical creation account, being created by God as male and female pertains to the essence of the human creature. This duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God. This very duality as something previously given is what is now disputed. The words of the creation account: “male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27) no longer apply. No, what applies now is this: it was not God who created them male and female – hitherto society did this, now we decide for ourselves. Man and woman as created realities, as the nature of the human being, no longer exist. Man calls his nature into question. From now on he is merely spirit and will. The manipulation of nature, which we deplore today where our environment is concerned, now becomes man’s fundamental choice where he himself is concerned. From now on there is only the abstract human being, who chooses for himself what his nature is to be. Man and woman in their created state as complementary versions of what it means to be human are disputed. But if there is no pre-ordained duality of man and woman in creation, then neither is the family any longer a reality established by creation. Likewise, the child has lost the place he had occupied hitherto and the dignity pertaining to him. Bernheim shows that now, perforce, from being a subject of rights, the child has become an object to which people have a right and which they have a right to obtain. When the freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God, as the image of God at the core of his being. The defence of the family is about man himself. And it becomes clear that when God is denied, human dignity also disappears. Whoever defends God is defending man.

At this point I would like to address the second major theme, which runs through the whole of the past year from Assisi to the Synod on the New Evangelization: the question of dialogue and proclamation. Let us speak firstly of dialogue. For the Church in our day I see three principal areas of dialogue, in which she must be present in the struggle for man and his humanity: dialogue with states, dialogue with society – which includes dialogue with cultures and with science – and finally dialogue with religions. In all these dialogues the Church speaks on the basis of the light given her by faith. But at the same time she incorporates the memory of mankind, which is a memory of man’s experiences and sufferings from the beginnings and down the centuries, in which she has learned about the human condition, she has experienced its boundaries and its grandeur, its opportunities and its limitations. Human culture, of which she is a guarantee, has developed from the encounter between divine revelation and human existence. The Church represents the memory of what it means to be human in the face of a civilization of forgetfulness, which knows only itself and its own criteria. Yet just as an individual without memory has lost his identity, so too a human race without memory would lose its identity. What the Church has learned from the encounter between revelation and human experience does indeed extend beyond the realm of pure reason, but it is not a separate world that has nothing to say to unbelievers. By entering into the thinking and understanding of mankind, this knowledge broadens the horizon of reason and thus it speaks also to those who are unable to share the faith of the Church. In her dialogue with the state and with society, the Church does not, of course, have ready answers for individual questions. Along with other forces in society, she will wrestle for the answers that best correspond to the truth of the human condition. The values that she recognizes as fundamental and non-negotiable for the human condition she must propose with all clarity. She must do all she can to convince, and this can then stimulate political action.

In man’s present situation, the dialogue of religions is a necessary condition for peace in the world and it is therefore a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities. This dialogue of religions has various dimensions. In the first place it is simply a dialogue of life, a dialogue of being together. This will not involve discussing the great themes of faith – whether God is Trinitarian or how the inspiration of the sacred Scriptures is to be understood, and so on. It is about the concrete problems of coexistence and shared responsibility for society, for the state, for humanity. In the process, it is necessary to learn to accept the other in his otherness and the otherness of his thinking. To this end, the shared responsibility for justice and peace must become the guiding principle of the conversation. A dialogue about peace and justice is bound to pass beyond the purely pragmatic to an ethical quest for the values that come before everything. In this way what began as a purely practical dialogue becomes a quest for the right way to live as a human being. Even if the fundamental choices themselves are not under discussion, the search for an answer to a specific question becomes a process in which, through listening to the other, both sides can obtain purification and enrichment. Thus this search can also mean taking common steps towards the one truth, even if the fundamental choices remain unaltered. If both sides set out from a hermeneutic of justice and peace, the fundamental difference will not disappear, but a deeper closeness will emerge nevertheless.

Two rules are generally regarded nowadays as fundamental for interreligious dialogue:

1. Dialogue does not aim at conversion, but at understanding. In this respect it differs from evangelization, from mission;
2. Accordingly, both parties to the dialogue remain consciously within their identity, which the dialogue does not place in question either for themselves or for the other.


These rules are correct, but in the way they are formulated here I still find them too superficial. True, dialogue does not aim at conversion, but at better mutual understanding – that is correct. But all the same, the search for knowledge and understanding always has to involve drawing closer to the truth. Both sides in this piece-by-piece approach to truth are therefore on the path that leads forward and towards greater commonality, brought about by the oneness of the truth. As far as preserving identity is concerned, it would be too little for the Christian, so to speak, to assert his identity in a such a way that he effectively blocks the path to truth. Then his Christianity would appear as something arbitrary, merely propositional. He would seem not to reckon with the possibility that religion has to do with truth. On the contrary, I would say that the Christian can afford to be supremely confident, yes, fundamentally certain that he can venture freely into the open sea of the truth, without having to fear for his Christian identity. To be sure, we do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us: Christ, who is the truth, has taken us by the hand, and we know that his hand is holding us securely on the path of our quest for knowledge. Being inwardly held by the hand of Christ makes us free and keeps us safe: free – because if we are held by him, we can enter openly and fearlessly into any dialogue; safe – because he does not let go of us, unless we cut ourselves off from him. At one with him, we stand in the light of truth.

Finally, at least a brief word should be added on the subject of proclamation, or evangelization, on which the post-synodal document will speak in depth, on the basis of the Synod Fathers’ propositions. I find that the essential elements of the process of evangelizing appear most eloquently in Saint John’s account of the calling of two of John the Baptist’s disciples, who become disciples of Jesus Christ (1:35-39). First of all, we have the simple act of proclamation. John the Baptist points towards Jesus and says: “Behold the Lamb of God!” A similar act is recounted a few verses later. This time it is Andrew, who says to his brother Simon “We have found the Messiah” (1:41). The first and fundamental element is the straightforward proclamation, the kerygma, which draws its strength from the inner conviction of the one proclaiming. In the account of the two disciples, the next stage is that of listening and following behind Jesus, which is not yet discipleship, but rather a holy curiosity, a movement of seeking. Both of them, after all, are seekers, men who live over and above everyday affairs in the expectation of God – in the expectation that he exists and will reveal himself. Stimulated by the proclamation, their seeking becomes concrete. They want to come to know better the man described as the Lamb of God by John the Baptist. The third act is set in motion when Jesus turns round, approaches them and asks: “What do you seek?” They respond with a further question, which demonstrates the openness of their expectation, their readiness to take new steps. They ask: “Rabbi, where are you staying?” Jesus’ answer “Come and see!” is an invitation to walk with him and thereby to have their eyes opened with him.

The word of proclamation is effective in situations where man is listening in readiness for God to draw near, where man is inwardly searching and thus on the way towards the Lord. His heart is touched when Jesus turns towards him, and then his encounter with the proclamation becomes a holy curiosity to come to know Jesus better. As he walks with Jesus, he is led to the place where Jesus lives, to the community of the Church, which is his body. That means entering into the journeying community of catechumens, a community of both learning and living, in which our eyes are opened as we walk.

“Come and see!” This saying, addressed by Jesus to the two seeker-disciples, he also addresses to the seekers of today. At the end of the year, we pray to the Lord that the Church, despite all her shortcomings, may be increasingly recognizable as his dwelling-place. We ask him to open our eyes ever wider as we make our way to his house, so that we can say ever more clearly, ever more convincingly: “we have found him for whom the whole world is waiting, Jesus Christ, the true Son of God and true man”. With these sentiments, I wish you all from my heart a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year.

As expected, Benedict forgave him but went even further and did it in person.


Papal visit and Christmas pardon for Paolo Gabriele

Vatican Radio
Dec. 22, 2012

On Saturday, Pope Benedict XVI visited his former-Butler Paolo Gabriele in the Vatican prison to personally tell him that he is forgiven and pardoned for his crimes.

Holy See Press Office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., informed journalists: “This morning the Holy Father Benedict XVI visited Paolo Gabriele in prison in order to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his acceptance of Mr Gabriele's request for pardon, thereby remitting the sentence passed against the latter. This constitutes a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the Pope shared a relationship of daily familiarity for many years.

Mr Gabriele was subsequently released from prison and has returned home. Since he cannot resume his previous occupation or continue to live in Vatican City, the Holy See, trusting in his sincere repentance, wishes to offer him the possibility of returning to a serene family life”.

A 46-year-old father of three, Paolo Gabriele was arrested May 23, 2012, after Vatican police found papal documents in his apartment. He was convicted of aggravated theft by a Vatican tribunal on Oct. 6 and had been serving his 18-month sentence in the Vatican Gendarme police barracks.

Gabriele had handed most of the Holy Father’s private and personal documents over to an Italian journalist who subsequently published them.